According to Freedom House's report on development of post-Communist countries, Estonia maintains its high ranking among 29 countries in review, writes LETA/National Broadcasting. Latvia ranked 3rd and Lithuania 6th.

The report points out the setbacks in the democratic administration of Eurasian, Balkan and Central European countries; among 29 countries assessed last year, there were only 13 with democratic governance, including Estonia. Six countries were still in the transition phase, and ten had authoritarian regimes.

Just as in 2013, the average democracy rating kept falling in the entire region, and Estonia maintained its second place, only behind Slovenia.









Of the 29 countries assessed for 2014, 13 were rated as democracies, 6 as transitional regimes, and 10 as authoritarian regimes.

Russia earned its largest ratings decline in a decade in 2014, as the Kremlin stepped up suppression of dissent at home while seeking to destabilize the new government in Ukraine.

As in each of the previous 10 years, the average democracy score declined in 2014, with 12 countries suffering downgrades.