In 2014 Bulgaria has remained in the group of the free countries, but has not shown improvement for the last seven years.

The information was made available through the annual report ''Freedom In The World 2015'', published by Freedom House on Wednesday.

Surveys are conducted in various regions of the world, based on political rights and civil liberties. The former are connected to the ability of people to join political organizations and participate in the decision-making processes, while the latter concern legislation and the opportunities for self-expression. The methodology is derived from the UN declaration of Human Rights.

The ranking uses a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 represents the highest level of freedom. Bulgaria has scored a 2 in both components. It has not been able to improve its score since 2008.

Brazil, Greece, Romania and Hungary share a score with Bulgaria. Meanwhile, Croatia and Cyprus were declared completely free. Turkey and Macedonia, on the other hand, both show a decline in freedom with average score of 3.5.

Overall, twice as many countries have declined in the ranking, as compared to those who have improved.

The report further addresses the turmoil in Ukraine, terrorist attacks, humanitarian crises, as well as violations of Internet freedom in the world. A conclusion was drawn that the '' return to the iron fist'' in many democratic states has led to a worsening of the global situation in 2014.