Fiji is the least politically free country in the Pacific Islands region, according to to the 2018 Global Freedom Index.
Photo: https://freedomhouse.org
The annual index, released by the US research organisation Freedom House, rates countries on their political rights and civil liberties.
Freedom House rated 88 countries as "free," 58 as "partly free" and 49 as "not free" in 2017.
All but two countries in the Pacific Islands region were rated as being free.
Fiji and Papua New Guinea, with aggregate scores of 59 and 63 out of 100 respectively, were rated as being partly free.
Tuvalu had the highest rating of any pacific island country with 94.
Of the metropolitan countries in the countries in the wider Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand scored 98, and Indonesia 64 (partly free).
China with 14 was considered "not free".
