Global press freedom has never been lower in the last 25 years. This is stated in the new World Press Freedom Index 2026 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which analyzes the conditions of journalism in 180 countries and territories. Italy loses another 6 positions compared to 2025 and slips to 56th place, reaching the problematic range. The countries of Northern Europe remain at the top of the ranking, while China, North Korea and Eritrea remain at the bottom.
Global press freedom in 2026: country ranking
Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) World Press Freedom Index measures the level of freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories. The definition of press freedom used for the evaluation is as follows:
Freedom of the press is defined as the ability of journalists, individually and collectively, to select, produce and disseminate news of public interest, independently of political, economic, legal and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety.
To draw up the global ranking, RSF analyzes five macro-categories:
- political context
- legal framework
- economic context
- socio-cultural context
- safety
Each country receives a score ranging from 0 to 100, where 100 represents complete freedom of the press. This score is calculated based on the combination of two elements:
- the amount of abuse committed against the media and journalists in relation to their work
- a qualitative analysis of the situation in each country or territory, based on responses to a questionnaire divided into macro-categories by sector experts (including journalists, researchers, academics and human rights defenders)
Based on the score obtained, press freedom is classified into five levels:
- Good: 85-100 points
- Satisfactory: 70-85 points
- Problem: 55-70 points
- Difficult: 40-55 points
- Very serious: 0-40 points
The scores of the individual categories then contribute equally to the overall score.
The most significant data from the 2026 report concerns the general worsening of the global situation. In 25 years, the average score has never been so low and, for the first time in the history of the RSF index, over half of the countries analyzed (52%) fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories. In 2002 these countries represented just 14% of the total. At the time, approximately 20% of the world’s population lived in states with a situation considered “good”; today this share has fallen below 1%.
In 2026, only seven countries fall into the range with “good” press freedom:
- Norway
- Netherlands
- Estonia
- Denmark
- Sweden
- Finland
- Ireland
It is striking that all these countries are concentrated in Northern Europe and that Norway (with 92.72 points) maintains first place for the tenth consecutive year.
The country with the worst press freedom is Eritrea, which occupies the last place in the ranking for the third consecutive year.
Overall, Eastern Europe and the Middle East remain the most dangerous areas in the world for journalists, a trend that has been stable for over two decades.
However, the biggest drop in the 2026 rankings is that of Niger, which loses 37 positions. RSF links the data to the growing instability of the Sahel, where armed groups and military juntas increasingly limit access to independent information.
On the contrary, Syria recorded the best progress of the year: after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship in December 2024, the country gained 36 positions, going from 177th to 141st place.
Looking instead at the data of the great powers, the situation is not encouraging:
- the United States drops 7 places to 64th place
- Russia is in 172nd place (-1 position)
- China remains stable in third to last position
According to RSF, the most evident deterioration concerns the legal framework: in many countries journalism is becoming increasingly criminalized through restrictive laws, trials and limitations on access to information.
The current situation in Italy and the critical issues
According to this RFS ranking, the current Italian situation (which is given a score of 65.16) remains classified as “problematic”. Furthermore, Italy dropped to 56th place, losing six places in just one year.
Analyzing the five indicators used by RSF, several problematic areas for press freedom emerge in the Bel Paese:
- political context: 50th place (-1 compared to 2025)
- economic context: 58th place (-2)
- legal framework: 56th place (-12)
- safety: 61st place (-17)
- socio-cultural context: 77th place (-14)
These data therefore tell us that in Italy, the major critical issues for journalists concern legal protection, safety and the socio-cultural context.
