2020 was a *very* bad year for democracy

One of the many victims of the coronavirus pandemic over the last year was democracy around the world, according to a new report from Freedom House, a non-governmental organization that tracks trends in world governments.

"As a lethal pandemic, economic and physical insecurity, and violent conflict ravaged the world in 2020, democracy's defenders sustained heavy new losses in their struggle against authoritarian foes, shifting the international balance in favor of tyranny," wrote Sarah Repucci and Amy Slipowitz ijn the organization's "Freedom in the World 2021" report. "Incumbent leaders increasingly used force to crush opponents and settle scores, sometimes in the name of public health, while beleaguered activists—lacking effective international support—faced heavy jail sentences, torture, or murder in many settings." The numbers are striking. According to the stats kept by Freedom House, the democracy scores of 45 additional countries declined rather than improved over the last year -- the largest number measured in the study in 15 years.