Data for 2018

Academic Freedom Index, 2018

Name: Academic Freedom Index, 2018
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2018, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Academic Freedom Index, 2018 covers 176 countries. Austria is highest, at 0.972; North Korea is lowest, at 0.012. The middle country reads 0.745. Against 2017, 113 values changed (58 up, 55 down), the same countries are covered.

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Academic Freedom Index · Data for 2018

HighestAustria

0.972

LowestNorth Korea

0.012

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

176countries
1measure
2018the year it describes
159distinct 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, 2018, 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 176 countries · select a heading to sort

Academic Freedom Index, 2018: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.972
2	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.970
3	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.968
=4	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.965
=4	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.965
=6	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.964
=6	Chile`CHL`South America	0.964
8	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.962
9	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.954
10	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.951
=11	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.949
=11	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.949
13	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.948
14	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.945
15	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.944
16	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.942
17	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.940
=18	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.938
=18	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.938
=18	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.938
21	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.935
22	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.926
23	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.921
24	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.919
25	Peru`PER`South America	0.918
26	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.916
27	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.914
28	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.913
29	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.912
30	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.911
31	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.907
32	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.906
=33	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.905
=33	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.905
=33	United States`USA`Northern America	0.905
36	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.904
37	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.898
38	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.896
=39	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.895
=39	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.895
41	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.893
42	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.891
=43	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.888
=43	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.888
45	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.886
46	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.880
47	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.873
48	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.872
49	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.871
50	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.868
=51	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.867
=51	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.867
53	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.866
54	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.857
55	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.854
56	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.853
57	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.851
58	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.849
59	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.848
60	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.846
=61	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.844
=61	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.844
63	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.843
=64	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.838
=64	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.838
=64	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.838
67	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.836
68	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.829
69	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.824
70	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.823
71	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.821
72	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.820
73	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.817
74	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.804
75	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.803
76	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.801
77	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.800
78	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.793
79	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.791
80	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.784
81	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.781
82	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.777
83	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.764
84	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.761
85	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.759
86	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.756
87	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.748
88	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.747
89	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.743
90	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.742
91	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.735
92	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.732
93	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.730
94	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.729
95	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.696
96	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.694
97	Colombia`COL`South America	0.690
98	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.684
99	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.679
100	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.670
101	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.666
102	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.661
=103	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.658
=103	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.658
105	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.651
106	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.649
107	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.639
108	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.611
109	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.601
=110	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.600
=110	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.600
112	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.569
113	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.543
114	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.542
115	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.537
116	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.518
117	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.511
118	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.485
119	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.480
=120	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.464
=120	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.464
122	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.458
123	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.450
124	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.447
125	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.433
126	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.425
127	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.421
128	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.404
129	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.400
130	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.393
131	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.392
132	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.381
133	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.377
134	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.374
135	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.367
136	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.353
137	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.341
138	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.336
139	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.333
140	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.317
141	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.315
142	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.308
143	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.287
144	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.277
145	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.270
146	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.255
147	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.253
148	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.227
149	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.225
150	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.206
=151	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.196
=151	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.196
153	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.174
154	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.169
155	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.167
156	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.146
157	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.141
158	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.133
159	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.131
160	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.124
161	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.101
162	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.093
163	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.086
164	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.077
165	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.073
166	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.066
167	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.061
168	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.060
169	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.055
170	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.054
171	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	0.050
172	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.049
173	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.037
174	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.022
175	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.020
176	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.012

02In 2018

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Austria0.972
2Estonia0.970
3Portugal0.968
4Germanyshared0.965
4Uruguayshared0.965

Lowest

176North Korea0.012
175Eritrea0.020
174Turkmenistan0.022
173Syria0.037
172Laos0.049

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.745. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032017 → 2018

Since 2017

What changed between 2017 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
113values changed, of 176 in both
58 · 55rose · fell
63unchanged

Rose most

Armenia0.667 → 0.777+0.110
Gambia0.762 → 0.843+0.081
Kazakhstan0.241 → 0.315+0.074
Ethiopia0.326 → 0.392+0.066
Zimbabwe0.144 → 0.196+0.052

Fell most

Nicaragua0.425 → 0.141−0.284
Brazil0.774 → 0.511−0.263
Benin0.870 → 0.784−0.086
Mexico0.918 → 0.886−0.032
Tanzania0.631 → 0.600−0.031

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 2018.
159 distinct values among 176
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.938. 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 176 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
176 rows · 4.7 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download academic-freedom-2018-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 (2018). Academic Freedom Index, 2018 [data set], describing 2018. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/academic-freedom/2018

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Academic Freedom Index, 2017
176 countries
The year after ›
Academic Freedom Index, 2019
176 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