Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom

90 • Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom
Score The index is divided into four ranges from very high restrictions to low
restrictions:
Very high (the top 5% of scores) have intensive restrictions on many
or all of the 20 measures
High (the next highest 15% of scores) restrictions have intensive
restrictions on several of the 20 measures, or more moderate restrictions
on many of them
Moderate (the next 20% of scores) have intensive restrictions on a
few measures, or more moderate restrictions on several of them
Low (the bottom 60% of scores) generally have moderate restrictions
on few or none of the measures
[North Korea Note that the sources clearly indicate that the government of North
Korea is among the most repressive in the world with respect to religion
as well as other civil liberties. But because North Korean society
is effectively closed to outsiders, the sources are unable to provide the
kind of specific and timely information that the Pew Forum coded in
this quantitative study. Therefore, the report does not include a score
for North Korea.]
Pro’s The study covers 198 countries and self-administering territories, representing
more than 99.5% of the world’s population.
Con’s This is not an annual index. The first edition of this index was published
in 2009, covering two-year period from mid-2006 to mid-2008. The
second edition was released in 2011.
Religion—social hostility
by Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
Description Measuring concrete, hostile actions that effectively hinder the religious
activities of the targeted individuals or groups. Restrictions on religion
can result not only from the actions of governments, but also from acts
of violence and intimidation by private individuals, organizations, or
social groups.
Source The Social Hostilities Index is based on 13 questions used to gauge
hostilities both between and within religious groups, including mob
or sectarian violence, crimes motivated by religious bias, physical
conflict over conversions, harassment over attire for religious reasons,
and other religion-related intimidation and violence, including terrorism
and war. The Pew Forum’s staff combed through 16 published
sources of information, including reports by the US State Department,
the United Nations and various non-governmental organizations, to
answer the questions on a country-by-country basis. The questions are:
Fraser Institute ©2012 • www.fraserinstitute.org • www.freetheworld.com