The World - News from Dec. 25, 1985

Democracy made gains around the world in 1985, but 40.4% of the earth’s population continues to live under oppression, Freedom House said in its annual report. The private, New York-based group, which monitors political rights and civil liberties, said: “Gains in freedom were evident in a number of countries in the Western Hemisphere.” The group listed Brazil, Uruguay, Grenada and El Salvador as places where gains in freedom occurred. But the group also reported that “in most of Africa . . . the condition of freedom was regarded as unpromising as ever.”