More than half of world’s population live in countries coloured red on RSF’s press freedom map

This is appalling. More than half of the world’s citizens live in extremely dangerous places  for press freedom, places where working as a journalist means risking your life or your liberty, while fewer than 8% live in places where the situation is classified as “good” or “satisfactory.”

According to the 2024 World Press Freedom Index map, this 50% of the world’s population live in 36 countries (it was 31 countries in 2023) that are among the most populous in the world. Five of the world’s ten most populous countries are coloured red on RSF’s new press freedom map. They are India (ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the Index), China (172nd), Pakistan (152nd), Bangladesh (165th) and Russia (162nd).

Aside from India, which is currently holding elections, all of these countries held elections in 2023 or the first few months of 2024 in which the press freedom violations just reinforced their ranking in the bottom sixth of the Index.