How does the US rank in terms of human rights compared to other developed countries?
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Executive summary
The United States ranks highly on many international freedom and human-rights indices compared with most of the world, but several leading monitors — including Freedom House, V‑Dem/Our World in Data, CIVICUS, HRMI and Human Rights Watch — document recent backsliding and specific domestic failings (e.g., immigration detention, voting restrictions, protest laws), prompting some watchdogs to place the U.S. on watchlists or downgrade civic‑space ratings [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. International indices use different definitions and methods — some emphasize civil and political rights, others combine economic and personal freedoms — so “how the U.S. ranks” depends on which index and which metrics are used [1] [2] [6].
1. How different indices measure “human rights” — and why rankings differ
Freedom-type indices are not interchangeable: the Human Freedom Index merges 86 indicators into a single human‑freedom score (personal + economic) and historically ranks Western Europe and North America highest [1]; V‑Dem’s human‑rights/democracy measures produce a 0–1 index focused on movement, religion, expression and association [2]; and Freedom House centers on political rights and civil liberties in its “Freedom in the World” assessments [6]. Because each index weights issues and countries differently, the U.S. can be “high” on some global freedom lists while simultaneously showing substantive declines on civic‑space or specific‑rights measures reported by other monitors [1] [2] [6].
2. Where the U.S. sits on broad comparisons
On multi‑country compiled freedom measures, North America and Western Europe typically occupy the top ranks, and the U.S. has been among those higher‑scoring liberal democracies in aggregated indexes that emphasize economic and personal liberty [1]. Our World in Data (V‑Dem) provides a continuous human‑rights scale used to compare countries quantitatively [2]. But these macro ranks mask important internal variation and recent negative trends highlighted by country‑specific reports [1] [2].
3. Recent watchdog downgrades and watchlists: what they say about the U.S.
Multiple civil‑society monitors signaled concern in 2024–25. CIVICUS placed the United States on its 2025 watchlist and classed U.S. civic space as “narrowed” or slipping, pointing to new state laws restricting protests, federal funding cuts to civil‑society groups, and actions perceived as undermining multilateral human‑rights engagement [4] [7] [8]. Human Rights Watch’s 2025 World Report documents domestic legal decisions and practices — for example, broad presidential‑immunity rulings and voter disenfranchisement tied to the criminal‑legal system — that threaten democratic and rights protections [5] [9]. These critiques do not claim the U.S. is equivalent to closed societies; they flag backsliding within a historically high‑ranking democracy [4] [5].
4. Specific domestic issues dragging U.S. performance down
Reporters and advocates repeatedly cite concrete problems: lengthy immigration court backlogs and conditions in immigration detention; laws and practices that disproportionately affect marginalized groups; and state‑level protest and voting restrictions that can erode civil and political rights [3] [10] [4]. Human Rights Watch highlights the broad denial of voting rights after criminal convictions — a practice far less common in many other democracies — and the legal scope of presidential immunity [9]. RightsTracker/Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) reporting identifies particular populations at high risk within the U.S., such as migrants and low‑income groups [10].
5. International conduct and the “double standard” critique
Beyond domestic policy, rights organizations criticize U.S. foreign‑policy choices. Human Rights Watch notes uneven application of human‑rights pressure — condemning some partners while arming or tolerating abuses by others — which affects global credibility even if it doesn’t shift numerical rankings in global indices [5]. CIVICUS also flagged U.S. pullbacks from multilateral bodies as relevant to its watchlist assessment [4].
6. What this means if you’re asking “How does the U.S. rank?”
Short answer: the U.S. remains in the upper tier on many aggregated freedom indices that score Western democracies highly, but several authoritative monitors recorded measurable backsliding in civic space and identified systemic rights deficits during 2024–25 — sufficient to place the country on watchlists and prompt downgrades in specific assessments [1] [2] [4] [3] [9]. Choose the index and the rights domain you care about — civil liberties, economic freedom, voting rights, immigrant rights, or civic space — and consult that specific dataset or country report for an apples‑to‑apples comparison [1] [2] [11].
Limitations and sources: this analysis synthesizes publicly available indices and country reports cited above; it does not compute a new rank. For country‑level narratives, see Freedom House’s U.S. report and the U.S. country chapters in Human Rights Watch’s World Report [3] [9]. For global indexed comparisons, consult the Human Freedom Index and V‑Dem/Our World in Data resources [1] [2].