Data for 1996

Academic Freedom Index, 1996

Name: Academic Freedom Index, 1996
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1996, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

V-Dem's Academic Freedom Index asks how free scholars and universities are in practice: to research and teach, to share and publish findings, to govern their own institutions, to work without surveillance or intimidation on campus, and to express themselves academically and culturally. It runs from 0 to 1, and a higher figure means more freedom.

Academic Freedom Index, 1996 covers 168 countries. Estonia is highest, at 0.974; North Korea is lowest, at 0.010. The middle country reads 0.686. Against 1995, 37 values changed (23 up, 14 down), the same countries are covered.

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Academic Freedom Index · Data for 1996

HighestEstonia

0.974

LowestNorth Korea

0.010

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.

168countries
1measure
1996the year it describes
146distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 26, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY-SA 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Academic Freedom Index, 1996, as published. V-Dem Institute ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 168 countries · select a heading to sort

Academic Freedom Index, 1996: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.974
2	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.967
3	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.966
4	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.965
5	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.964
6	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.962
7	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.960
8	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.956
9	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.954
=10	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.951
=10	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.951
=10	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.951
13	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.947
14	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.946
15	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.945
16	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.941
17	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.939
18	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.938
19	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.936
20	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.933
21	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.930
22	Chile`CHL`South America	0.929
23	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.926
24	United States`USA`Northern America	0.924
25	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.923
=26	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.922
=26	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.922
28	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.917
=29	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.915
=29	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.915
31	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.913
32	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.910
33	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.909
34	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.907
35	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.904
=36	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.899
=36	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.899
38	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.895
39	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.893
40	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.885
41	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.884
=42	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.882
=42	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.882
44	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.880
45	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.879
=46	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.875
=46	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.875
=48	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.870
=48	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.870
50	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.865
=51	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.860
=51	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.860
=53	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.858
=53	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.858
55	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.845
56	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.826
57	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.825
=58	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.824
=58	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.824
60	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.823
61	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.819
62	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.814
63	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.812
64	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.802
65	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.796
66	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.790
67	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.789
68	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.784
69	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.770
70	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.767
71	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.762
72	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.743
73	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.742
74	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.740
=75	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.731
=75	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.731
=77	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.730
=77	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.730
79	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.719
80	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.710
81	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.698
82	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.688
=83	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.687
=83	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.687
85	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.685
=86	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.682
=86	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.682
=86	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.682
89	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.680
90	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.678
91	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.668
92	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.665
93	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.662
94	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.642
95	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.636
=96	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.633
=96	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.633
98	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.615
99	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.604
100	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.602
101	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.600
102	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.595
103	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.590
104	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.583
105	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.572
106	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.559
107	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.548
=108	Colombia`COL`South America	0.537
=108	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.537
110	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.536
111	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.523
112	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.515
113	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.514
=114	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.479
=114	Peru`PER`South America	0.479
116	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.464
117	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.450
118	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.418
119	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.405
120	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.393
121	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.388
122	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.380
123	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.362
124	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.359
125	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.354
126	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.350
127	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.341
128	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.321
129	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.299
130	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.298
131	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.295
132	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.293
133	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.284
134	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.278
=135	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.263
=135	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.263
=137	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.258
=137	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.258
139	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.252
140	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.217
141	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.214
142	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.208
143	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.201
144	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.200
145	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.186
146	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.160
=147	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.149
=147	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.149
149	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.144
150	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.138
151	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.132
152	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.126
153	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.119
154	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.112
155	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.081
156	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.079
157	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.069
158	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.065
159	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.059
160	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.058
161	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.055
162	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.046
163	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.036
164	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.032
165	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.028
166	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.023
167	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.014
168	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.010

02In 1996

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Estonia0.974
2Italy0.967
3Denmark0.966
4Austria0.965
5Belgium0.964

Lowest

168North Korea0.010
167Turkmenistan0.014
166Myanmar0.023
165Laos0.028
164Syria0.032

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.686. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031995 → 1996

Since 1995

+0 / −0countries joined / left
37values changed, of 168 in both
23 · 14rose · fell
131unchanged

Rose most

Sierra Leone0.347 → 0.604+0.257
Guatemala0.498 → 0.678+0.180
São Tomé and Príncipe0.535 → 0.633+0.098
Taiwan0.724 → 0.790+0.066
Malawi0.628 → 0.685+0.057

Fell most

Belarus0.509 → 0.359−0.150
Bangladesh0.622 → 0.515−0.107
Kazakhstan0.410 → 0.341−0.069
Liberia0.465 → 0.405−0.060
Armenia0.653 → 0.600−0.053

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 1996.
146 distinct values among 168
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.951. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 168 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

.csv
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168 rows · 4.5 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download academic-freedom-1996-nations-inquiry.csv
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The publisher’s original
V-Dem Institute’s own file, on its own site.
V-Dem-CY-Core-v16_csv.zip

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg (1996). Academic Freedom Index, 1996 [data set], describing 1996. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/academic-freedom/1996

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Academic Freedom Index, 1995
168 countries
The year after ›
Academic Freedom Index, 1997
168 countries
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Academic Freedom Index: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
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