On a scale of 1 to 7 (with 1 being the most free and 7 the least free) Latvia rates a 'Democracy Score' of 2.07 according to the 2016 edition of the report, the 20th such report produced by Freedom House.
That score puts it behind top-ranked northern neighbor Estonia (1.93) and Slovenia (2.00) but ahead of Lithuania (2.32), Poland (2.32), the Czech Republic (2.21) and all other former communist states.
"The year 2015 was characterized by contradicting trends in Latvia. While democracy further consolidated in the country, illiberal strands appeared in the domestic political discourse, and an ideological struggle over so-called traditional values became more visible," reads the report on Latvia.
The average for all 29 countries is 4.39 with Russia ranking 6.50 and brutal dictatorships like Uzbekistan ranking 6.93.
Latvia's score has gone unchanged since 2013.
