Europe: press freedom index 2024

Norway had the best press freedom index score in Europe in 2024 at 91.98, while the country with the worst score was Russia at just 29.86. The index presents an overview of the plurality and independence of the media and how safe and free it is for journalist to do their job, with higher scores indicating a better situation for the press and lower scores signaling potential risks and challenges.

Press freedom in the EU

Journalists across the globe are at risk of being arrested, detained, imprisoned, and killed, and many face regular intimidation or are restricted by laws aimed at curtailing their freedom. Whilst Europe is among the safest regions in the world for media professionals, the press freedom index score has worsened in EU states across the bloc as well as in countries not part of the union.

How many journalists die each year?

Since the turn of the century there has been a noticeable increase in the number of journalists killed worldwide. Sadly, over one hundred journalists were killed in every year from 2012 to 2015, and although the situation has improved somewhat since then, 50 journalists lost their lives as a result of their work in 2020, with Mexico ranked as the deadliest country for those employed in the field.

Press freedom index in selected European countries in 2024

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Release date

2024

More information

Region

Europe

Survey time period

2013 to 2024

Supplementary notes

*Non-EU countries shown in gray.
According to the source, the Index ranks 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists. It is a snapshot of the media freedom situation based on an evaluation of pluralism, independence of the media, quality of legislative framework and safety of journalists in each country and region. It does not rank public policies even if governments obviously have a major impact on their country’s ranking. Nor is it an indicator of the quality of journalism in each country or region.
The countries surveyed were scored between 0 and 100, with 0 being the worst possible result and 100 the best.

Date of release is date of access.

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