Kim Hjelmgaard

USA TODAY

Global freedom has declined for the tenth consecutive year, according to a study published Wednesday by Freedom House, a Washington-based think tank.

The Freedom in the World 2016 report found that there has been a "protracted democratic slump (that) represents a major break from the steady and at times spectacular gains registered from 1975 to 2000."

Over the last ten years, 105 countries have suffered declines in political rights and civil liberties — the measure of freedom used by Freedom House to compile its report — while 61 nations registered gains.

"The world was battered in 2015 by overlapping crises that fueled xenophobic sentiment in democratic countries, undermined the economies of states dependent on the sale of natural resources and led authoritarian regimes to crack down harder on dissent," the report found.

Freedom House evaluated 195 countries and 15 territories and rated 86 (44%) "Free", 59 (30%) "Partly Free" and 50 (26%) "Not Free."

The United States and several European countries such as Ireland and Iceland retained their "Free" ratings while Syria, Tibet, Somalia, North Korea, Uzbekistan, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Western Sahara, Central African Republic, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea and Saudi Arabia were the least open, or "Not Free."

However, while the U.S. was given a top rating its score (90 out of a possible 100) was affected by "the cumulative impact over recent years of certain deficiencies in the electoral system, the influence of private money in election campaigns and the legislative process, legislative gridlock, (President) Obama's administration’s failure to fulfill promises of enhanced government openness, and fresh evidence of instances of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system," the report found.

The study also concluded that world leaders in Brazil, Chile and Mexico were "undermined by corruption scandals or an inability to stem violent crime" and that despite the U.S.'s resumption of diplomatic ties with Cuba "little progress was made toward democratic reform" in the Caribbean nation.

Human Rights Watch also published a study Wednesday in which it found that governments around the world in 2015 rolled back human rights.

In Europe, HRW said "significant refugee flows to Europe, spurred largely by the Syrian conflict, coupled with broadening attacks on civilians in the name of the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS), have led to growing fear-mongering and Islamophobia" by the region's governments.

A separate report published Wednesday by Berlin-based Transparency International found that North Korea and Somalia were the world's most corrupt countries in 2015.

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