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The 10 Countries With the Freest Press in the World |
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Reporters Without Borders published its 2026 index this spring. Press freedom is at a 25-year low, and the freest press on Earth clusters in one corner of it: northern Europe. Norway leads for a tenth straight year. The United States has dropped to 64th. |
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Source: RSF World Press Freedom Index 2026, released April 2026. Overall score, 0–100 (higher is freer). World figure is the average of all 180 scores. |
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| What's Surprising |
Norway scores 92.72. Portugal, in tenth, scores 83.71. Every country in between is European. Not one of the world's large democracies makes the list. France ranks 25th. The United Kingdom 18th. The United States 64th.
The American fall is the story. In 2002, the first year of the index, the United States ranked 17th. It now sits 64th, in the band RSF calls "problematic" — 21 points below Portugal at number ten. RSF ties the slide to legal pressure on reporters, the indicator that dropped hardest worldwide this year.
Size and wealth buy nothing here. The ten freest presses belong to countries with a combined population smaller than Germany's. Fewer than one person in a hundred now lives in a country RSF rates "good." In 2002, one in five did.
| What's Not Surprising |
The top is the usual group. The Nordics have held it for years — Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark — with Estonia and the Netherlands alongside. Small, rich, high-trust societies with strong public broadcasters and long habits of open government. Nothing here moves fast.
The bottom is the usual group too. Eritrea is last for the third year running. North Korea, China, Iran and Russia fill the floor — states where the press is an arm of the government or does not exist. China alone holds more than 120 journalists in prison.
The direction is the point. More than half the world's countries, 52.2%, now rate "difficult" or "very serious." In 2002 the figure was 13.7%. And the tool has moved from the cell to the courtroom: RSF's legal score fell in 110 of 180 countries this year. The pressure has reached democracies. It has not spared them.
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64th The United States. In 2002, the first year of the index, it ranked 17th. Today it sits 64th, in the band RSF calls "problematic." |
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52.2% Share of countries now rated "difficult" or "very serious" for press freedom. In 2002 it was 13.7%. |
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10 years Norway's unbroken run at No. 1. In the first index, in 2002, it merely tied for first. Now it leads alone. |
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110 of 180 Countries where RSF's legal indicator worsened in a single year — the sharpest fall of any measure. The squeeze is legal now, not only physical. |
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Under 1% Share of humanity living in a country RSF rates "good" for press freedom. In 2002 it was one in five. |
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RSF publishes the next index next spring, around World Press Freedom Day. Two things to track. First, whether the United States keeps sliding or steadies. Second, Syria, which jumped 36 places this year after Assad fell — the biggest riser on the board, and the kind of early gain that often reverses. If the legal squeeze keeps spreading through democracies, the world average, already at a 25-year low, has further to fall. We'll be watching. |
