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Data for 2018

Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2018

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

Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2018 covers 176 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.985; North Korea is lowest, at 0.013. The middle country reads 0.748. Against 2017, 160 values changed (74 up, 86 down), the same countries are covered.

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Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index · Data for 2018

HighestDenmark

0.985

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, 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.

Showing 25 of 176 countries · select a heading to sort

Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2018: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe0.985
2SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe0.978
3FinlandFINNorthern Europe0.976
=4BelgiumBELWestern Europe0.974
=4IrelandIRLNorthern Europe0.974
=6EstoniaESTNorthern Europe0.973
=6PortugalPRTSouthern Europe0.973
=6UruguayURYSouth America0.973
9FranceFRAWestern Europe0.968
10SwedenSWENorthern Europe0.966
11NorwayNORNorthern Europe0.964
12GermanyDEUWestern Europe0.962
13United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe0.960
14LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe0.957
15ItalyITASouthern Europe0.955
16New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand0.953
=17IcelandISLNorthern Europe0.951
=17South KoreaKOREastern Asia0.951
19NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe0.945
20Costa RicaCRICentral America0.944
21LatviaLVANorthern Europe0.943
22CanadaCANNorthern America0.938
=23AustriaAUTWestern Europe0.937
=23SenegalSENWestern Africa0.937
25LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe0.936

02In 2018

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. 1Denmark0.985
  2. 2Switzerland0.978
  3. 3Finland0.976
  4. 4Belgiumshared0.974
  5. 4Irelandshared0.974

Lowest

  1. 176North Korea0.013
  2. 175Eritrea0.017
  3. 174Laos0.022
  4. 173Syria0.030
  5. 172Turkmenistan0.040

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.748. “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
  • 160values changed, of 176 in both
  • 74 · 86rose · fell
  • 16unchanged

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 2018.

  • 158 distinct values among 176

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.973. 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 (2018). Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2018 [data set], describing 2018. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/freedom-of-expression/2018

0636 held

Other years

07Questions

Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2018: questions and answers

Which country has the highest freedom of expression in Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2018?

Denmark, at 0.985, of the 176 countries in the file.

What year does Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2018 describe?

2018.

How many countries does Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2018 cover?

176.

Where can I download Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information Index, 2018?

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, 2018 the newest?

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

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