# Multimedia 

Multimedia 

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- [Cato Video](/multimedia/cato-video)
- [Video Series](/search/category/video-series)
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Cato Weekly Podcast • December 25, 2021 

# Freedom in Decline for Most of the World’s People 

[The Human Freedom Index](https://avanan.url-protection.com/v1/url?o=https%3A//www.cato.org/human-freedom-index/2021&g=YjhkMzM1ZjRiODliMDljZg==&h=OTMzMTZiNzJmOTAyNDBjNWRmZmRmOTUyYzZhNGZlMTA1ZjI3YmZiMDJkMWFmMzJjMTIwNThlZGI5Mzg0ODljOQ==&p=YXAzOmNhdG9pbnN0aXR1dGU6YXZhbmFuOm86MTBjZjE5ZWQ4NzNlNTc4ZDc3ZGVlYmNhNmE3ZTZhMzk6djE6aA==) tracks freedom across a variety of metrics for most of the world’s countries. The trend over the past decade has not been good. Ian Vasquez, the report’s coauthor, describes the data.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![Ian Vásquez](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Ian%20Vasquez.jpg?itok=yBS_mzpm)](/people/ian-vasquez) 

##### [Ian Vásquez](/people/ian-vasquez)

Vice President for International Studies, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/vasquezian) [ 

](mailto:ivasquez@cato.org) 

[![Square face shot of Caleb O. Brown.](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/cbrown_sq.jpg?itok=zSWLm8kR)](/people/caleb-o-brown) 

##### [Caleb O. Brown](/people/caleb-o-brown)

Former Director of Multimedia, Host and Executive Producer, *Cato Daily Podcast*, Cato Institute