World Press Freedom 2019

The United States has fallen three places in the World Press Freedom Index since last year. Every year Reporters Without Borders rank the countries of the world based on an assessment of each country's record of supporting the freedom of the press. This year the United States is ranked 48th out of 180 countries, and the RWF say that the media climate in the U.S. is now “problematic”.

When President Trump took office the United States was ranked 41st of all the countries in the world. They have dropped down the list every year since Trump became President. Other countries to have fallen down the list this year are Venezuela (down five at 148th), Russia (down one place at 149th) and China (177th down one place). For the third year running Norway tops the list. Finland have moved up two places to come second in this year's index and Sweden are in third place overall.

You can find out where every country in the world ranks on the 2019 World Press Freedom Index interactive map. Countries on the map are colored based on their rankings. Countries colored a pale yellow are deemed 'satisfactory'. Countries colored orange are seen as 'problematic'. Red countries are in a 'difficult situation' and black countries are in a 'very difficult situation'.

The very pale yellow colored countries (which the RWF say are colored white) are classified as 'good'. This year 24% of the 180 countries ranked by Reporters Without Borders have qualified as 'good' in the index. Last year it was 26%. If you click on a country on the map you can read the score awarded by RWF and click on the 'read more' button to view the overall assessment of press freedom in the selected country.