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Data for 2015

Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015

2015, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015 covers 176 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.987; North Korea is lowest, at 0.013. The middle country reads 0.768. Against 2014, 122 values changed (52 up, 70 down), the same countries are covered.

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Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index · Data for 2015

HighestDenmark

0.987

LowestNorth Korea

0.013

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

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015, as published. V-Dem Institute ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 176 countries · select a heading to sort

Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe0.987
=2GermanyDEUWestern Europe0.979
=2NorwayNORNorthern Europe0.979
4SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe0.978
5BelgiumBELWestern Europe0.977
=6IrelandIRLNorthern Europe0.974
=6SwedenSWENorthern Europe0.974
=8PortugalPRTSouthern Europe0.972
=8UruguayURYSouth America0.972
10FranceFRAWestern Europe0.970
11AustriaAUTWestern Europe0.966
12EstoniaESTNorthern Europe0.963
=13FinlandFINNorthern Europe0.961
=13United StatesUSANorthern America0.961
=15LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe0.957
=15NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe0.957
17Costa RicaCRICentral America0.955
18AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand0.952
=19LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe0.951
=19PolandPOLEastern Europe0.951
=21ItalyITASouthern Europe0.950
=21SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe0.950
23LatviaLVANorthern Europe0.949
24United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe0.947
25ChileCHLSouth America0.943

02In 2015

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. 1Denmark0.987
  2. 2Germanyshared0.979
  3. 2Norwayshared0.979
  4. 4Switzerland0.978
  5. 5Belgium0.977

Lowest

  1. 176North Korea0.013
  2. 175Eritrea0.018
  3. 173Turkmenistanshared0.024
  4. 173Laosshared0.024
  5. 172Syria0.031

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.768. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032014 → 2015

Since 2014

What changed between 2014 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 122values changed, of 176 in both
  • 52 · 70rose · fell
  • 54unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

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 2015.

  • 155 distinct values among 176

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.979. 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

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 (2015). Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015 [data set], describing 2015. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/freedom-of-expression/2015

0636 held

Other years

07Questions

Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015: questions and answers

Which country has the highest freedom of expression in Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015?

Denmark, at 0.987, of the 176 countries in the file.

What year does Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015 describe?

2015.

How many countries does Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015 cover?

176.

Where can I download Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015?

On this page, as a CSV file holding every value exactly as published, or from the publisher’s own site, linked below.

Is Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2015 the newest?

No. The newest held here is Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2025.

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