Hungary is described in this year's report as "partly free" after "five consecutive years of decline and 13 years without improvement." | Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images Rights group says global democracy ‘in retreat’ for 13th year Freedom House criticizes Hungary and Poland.

Global democracy has been "in retreat" for 13 consecutive years, according to the annual report by the watchdog Freedom House.

In its Freedom in the World report for 2018, out Tuesday, the Washington-based rights group said that between 1988 and 2005, the percentage of countries it ranked as "not free" fell from 37 to 23 percent, while the share of so-called free countries grew from 36 to 46 percent. However, between 2005 and 2018, the share of "not free" countries rose to 26 percent, while the share of "free countries" fell to 44 percent.

As a result, political rights and civil liberties have become weaker in 68 countries since last year's report, and improved in 50 countries.

The report cites a shifting global balance of power in favor of countries including China, and "anger and anxiety in Europe and the United States over economic inequality and the loss of personal status," as underlying causes of the strains on democratic institutions.

In Europe, the report says Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán "has presided over one of the most dramatic declines ever charted by Freedom House within the European Union," citing increasing attacks on media independence. As a result, Hungary is described in this year's report as "partly free" after "five consecutive years of decline and 13 years without improvement."

In Poland, the report says the conservative Law and Justice party has "laid waste to the country's legal framework in its drive to assert political control over the entire judiciary."

Other countries in the EU also saw a decline in their democracy score — Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and the U.K.

The report said the U.S. has fallen behind the likes of the U.K., France and Germany over the past eight years.

Freedom House blames long-standing problems such as political polarization, loss of economic mobility, the influence of special interests and the rise of partisan media. But it also warns that President Donald Trump "exerts an influence on American politics that is straining our core values and testing the stability of our constitutional system."