World population by degree of press freedom in 2020

A report on global press freedom in 2020 revealed that 20 percent of the world's population lived in a country with total press freedom. Conversely, 38 percent lived somewhere without any press freedom at all. Lack of press freedom often means that a country's government regulates what can and cannot be published, putting consumers at risk of being given incorrect or biased information or missing out on certain news topics entirely.

The decline of press freedom

Press freedom is falling on a global level. This is happening not only in countries notorious for poor press freedom scores like Russia, Cuba, and Eritrea, but also across Europe. Press freedom in the United Kingdom has overall declined since 2016, and the same is true of the situation in Austria, Serbia, and Slovenia. Germany’s press freedom score surpassed 14 in 2016 and has remained above that level ever since, even reaching 15.24 in 2021. The drop in press freedom in Europe has been partially attributed to the rise of right-wing populism, and government intervention is increasingly a problem.

Impact on journalists

Limited freedom of the press compromises the safety of journalists and their ability to do their work. The dangers faced by journalists are significantly higher in countries with poor press freedom, notably Mexico, which is the most dangerous country for journalists worldwide. Female journalists also regularly faced gender-based violence and abuse, and close to 50 percent of respondents to a global survey on the subject admitted that they reacted to sexist abuse at work by censoring themselves.