Academic Freedom Index Update 2025
This year’s update of the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) provides an overview of the state of academic freedom across 179 countries. As in previous years, academic freedom levels vary greatly across the world.
In 2024, elections were held in more than 70 countries. In this year’s analysis, we therefore spotlight the development of academic freedom in countries that hold elections under conditions that range from free to at-least constrained. Specifically, we explore how the political influence of anti-pluralist parties relates to varying levels of academic freedom.
The analysis shows that countries with anti-pluralist parties in government have lower levels of academic freedom than those where anti-pluralist parties have little-to-no political influence. To further explore the relationship between anti-pluralism and academic freedom, we discuss three illustrative cases: Argentina, Poland, and the United States.