Data for 2002

Academic Freedom Index, 2002

Name: Academic Freedom Index, 2002
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2002, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Academic Freedom Index, 2002 covers 170 countries. Poland is highest, at 0.977; North Korea is lowest, at 0.010. The middle country reads 0.730. Against 2001, 35 values changed (20 up, 15 down), the same countries are covered.

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Academic Freedom Index · Data for 2002

HighestPoland

0.977

LowestNorth Korea

0.010

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

170countries
1measure
2002the year it describes
149distinct 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, 2002, 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 170 countries · select a heading to sort

Academic Freedom Index, 2002: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.977
2	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.974
=3	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.969
=3	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.969
5	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.967
6	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.964
7	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.962
=8	Chile`CHL`South America	0.961
=8	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.961
=8	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.961
11	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.959
=12	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.956
=12	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.956
14	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.955
15	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.951
16	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.950
=17	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.947
=17	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.947
19	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.946
=20	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.945
=20	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.945
22	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.944
23	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.939
24	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.938
25	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.936
26	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.931
27	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.930
28	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.929
=29	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.926
=29	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.926
=31	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.925
=31	United States`USA`Northern America	0.925
33	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.923
=34	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.922
=34	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.922
=34	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.922
37	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.917
38	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.915
39	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.914
40	Peru`PER`South America	0.913
41	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.910
42	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.907
43	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.904
44	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.899
45	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.894
46	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.893
47	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.891
48	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.883
=49	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.880
=49	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.880
51	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.879
52	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.875
53	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.870
54	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.864
55	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.861
56	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.860
57	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.858
=58	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.856
=58	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.856
=58	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.856
=61	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.855
=61	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.855
63	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.853
64	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.848
65	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.846
66	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.839
67	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.829
68	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.825
69	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.820
70	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.806
71	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.805
72	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.792
73	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.789
74	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.766
75	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.757
76	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.755
77	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.745
=78	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.743
=78	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.743
80	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.742
81	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.741
82	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.740
=83	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.733
=83	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.733
=85	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.730
=85	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.730
87	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.729
88	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.727
89	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.720
90	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.714
91	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.712
92	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.708
93	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.700
94	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.698
95	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.697
96	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.688
97	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.683
98	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.675
99	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.664
100	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.663
101	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.659
102	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.656
=103	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.643
=103	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.643
105	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.641
106	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.629
107	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.622
108	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.621
109	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.611
110	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.586
111	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.576
112	Colombia`COL`South America	0.565
=113	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.561
=113	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.561
115	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.554
116	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.552
117	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.530
118	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.524
119	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.522
120	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.512
121	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.503
122	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.488
123	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.471
124	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.457
125	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.455
126	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.415
127	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.409
128	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.385
129	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.382
130	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.381
131	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.360
132	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.355
133	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.337
134	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.335
135	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.330
136	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.313
137	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.305
138	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.284
139	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.282
140	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.279
141	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.278
142	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.263
=143	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.242
=143	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.242
145	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.238
146	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.212
=147	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.208
=147	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.208
149	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.186
150	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.173
151	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.167
152	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.163
153	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.155
154	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.147
155	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.145
156	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.112
157	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.108
158	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.107
159	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.100
160	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.091
161	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.077
162	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.071
163	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.058
164	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.044
165	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.042
166	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.037
167	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.023
168	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.021
169	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.012
170	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.010

02In 2002

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Poland0.977
2Estonia0.974
3Austriashared0.969
3Portugalshared0.969
5Italy0.967

Lowest

170North Korea0.010
169Turkmenistan0.012
168Eritrea0.021
167Myanmar0.023
166Laos0.037

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.730. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032001 → 2002

Since 2001

What changed between 2001 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
35values changed, of 170 in both
20 · 15rose · fell
135unchanged

Rose most

Kenya0.475 → 0.755+0.280
Afghanistan0.333 → 0.522+0.189
Türkiye0.458 → 0.561+0.103
Argentina0.920 → 0.956+0.036
Republic of the Congo0.348 → 0.382+0.034

Fell most

Nepal0.753 → 0.659−0.094
Belarus0.272 → 0.242−0.030
Moldova0.610 → 0.586−0.024
Haiti0.721 → 0.698−0.023
Bangladesh0.491 → 0.471−0.020

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

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. It can differ from what was first published for 2002.
149 distinct values among 170
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.961. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
The position is ours
V-Dem Institute publishes values only; the order is this site’s.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 170 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
170 rows · 4.6 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download academic-freedom-2002-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
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 into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

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

Cite this edition

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg (2002). Academic Freedom Index, 2002 [data set], describing 2002. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/academic-freedom/2002

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Academic Freedom Index, 2001
170 countries
The year after ›
Academic Freedom Index, 2003
172 countries
All of them
Academic Freedom Index: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions