Countries With the Lowest Freedom of Expression

Every country with a figure for freedom of expression, ranked from lowest to highest. The top three are Korea, Dem. People's Rep. (0.013), Nicaragua (0.018) and Afghanistan (0.022). The middle country of the 175 has 0.695.

What this measures

Freedom of expression and alternative sources of information index, in index (0-1). Source: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg. For this measure, higher is better.

Media censorship, harassment of journalists, and freedom of academic and cultural expression. A part of the electoral democracy index.

The full ranking

Each country’s latest figure, from 2025–2025. The year beside each value says when it was measured.

More on freedom of expression

• Countries With the Highest Freedom of Expression
• Freedom of expression by country: trend over time and what it goes with

Related rankings

• Countries With the Lowest Corruption Perceptions Index
• Countries With the Lowest Political Rights (FH)
• Countries With the Lowest Civil Liberties (FH)
• Countries With the Lowest Trust in Government
• Countries With the Lowest Pre-trial Detainee Shares
• Countries With the Lowest Refugees Originating
• Countries With the Lowest Electoral Democracy
• Countries With the Lowest Liberal Democracy

A ranking describes countries, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All country rankings.