Data for 2020

Government Internet Shutdowns, 2020

Name: Government Internet Shutdowns, 2020
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2020, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Government Internet Shutdowns, 2020 covers 176 countries. Spain is highest, at 2.081; North Korea is lowest, at -3.900. The middle country reads 1.035. Against 2019, 70 values changed (42 up, 28 down), the same countries are covered.

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Government Internet Shutdowns · Data for 2020

HighestSpain

2.081

LowestNorth Korea

-3.900

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

176countries
1measure
2020the year it describes
172distinct 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 Government Internet Shutdowns, 2020, 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

Government Internet Shutdowns, 2020: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	2.081
2	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	2.038
3	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	2.004
4	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	1.979
5	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	1.967
6	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	1.962
7	United States`USA`Northern America	1.952
8	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	1.948
9	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	1.947
10	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	1.920
11	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	1.917
12	Chile`CHL`South America	1.912
13	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	1.908
14	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	1.906
15	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	1.904
16	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	1.903
17	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	1.902
18	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	1.901
19	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	1.900
20	Argentina`ARG`South America	1.889
21	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	1.887
22	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	1.881
23	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	1.880
24	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	1.879
25	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	1.877
=26	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	1.875
=26	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	1.875
28	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	1.874
29	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	1.869
30	Mexico`MEX`Central America	1.867
31	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	1.864
32	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	1.853
33	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	1.852
34	Uruguay`URY`South America	1.847
35	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	1.839
36	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	1.822
37	Suriname`SUR`South America	1.821
38	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	1.814
39	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	1.808
40	Panama`PAN`Central America	1.806
41	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	1.789
42	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	1.784
43	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	1.779
44	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	1.778
45	Honduras`HND`Central America	1.769
46	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	1.755
47	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	1.748
48	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	1.746
=49	Guyana`GUY`South America	1.732
=49	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	1.732
51	Canada`CAN`Northern America	1.731
52	Brazil`BRA`South America	1.714
53	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	1.708
54	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	1.696
55	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	1.685
56	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	1.680
57	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	1.670
58	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	1.637
59	Peru`PER`South America	1.506
60	Paraguay`PRY`South America	1.488
61	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	1.471
62	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	1.458
63	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	1.455
64	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	1.421
65	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	1.351
66	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	1.332
67	France`FRA`Western Europe	1.330
68	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	1.324
69	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	1.307
70	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	1.305
71	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	1.277
72	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	1.264
73	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	1.226
74	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	1.223
75	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	1.222
76	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	1.219
77	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	1.196
78	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	1.192
79	Bolivia`BOL`South America	1.174
80	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	1.169
81	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	1.133
82	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	1.116
83	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	1.082
84	Colombia`COL`South America	1.075
=85	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	1.047
=85	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	1.047
87	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	1.045
88	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	1.038
89	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	1.033
=90	Ecuador`ECU`South America	1.021
=90	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	1.021
92	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	1.008
93	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	1.003
94	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.950
95	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.943
96	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.936
97	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.928
98	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.924
99	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.908
100	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.827
101	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.805
102	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.790
103	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.678
104	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.543
105	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.517
106	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.493
107	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.491
108	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.468
109	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.443
110	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.406
111	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.392
112	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.387
113	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.358
114	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.335
115	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.258
116	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.188
117	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.163
118	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.023
119	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	-0.009
120	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	-0.025
121	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	-0.089
122	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	-0.105
123	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	-0.167
124	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	-0.230
125	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	-0.271
126	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	-0.286
127	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	-0.329
128	Niger`NER`Western Africa	-0.398
129	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	-0.478
130	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	-0.484
131	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	-0.563
132	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	-0.581
133	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	-0.604
134	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	-0.606
135	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	-0.631
136	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	-0.632
137	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	-0.670
138	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	-0.724
139	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	-0.743
140	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	-0.744
141	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	-0.792
142	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	-0.802
143	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	-0.875
144	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	-0.888
145	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	-0.928
146	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	-0.931
147	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	-0.932
148	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	-0.941
149	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	-1.012
150	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	-1.024
151	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	-1.033
152	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	-1.149
153	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	-1.165
154	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	-1.258
155	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	-1.311
156	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	-1.337
157	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	-1.372
158	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	-1.448
159	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	-1.460
160	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	-1.510
161	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	-1.518
162	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	-1.525
163	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	-1.526
164	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	-1.539
165	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	-1.624
166	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	-1.644
167	Venezuela`VEN`South America	-1.679
168	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	-1.706
169	India`IND`Southern Asia	-1.853
170	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	-2.067
171	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	-2.133
172	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	-2.518
173	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	-2.735
174	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	-2.742
175	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	-3.402
176	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	-3.900

02In 2020

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Spain2.081
2Portugal2.038
3Barbados2.004
4South Korea1.979
5Zambia1.967

Lowest

176North Korea-3.900
175Belarus-3.402
174South Sudan-2.742
173Turkmenistan-2.735
172Eritrea-2.518

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 1.035. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032019 → 2020

Since 2019

What changed between 2019 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
70values changed, of 176 in both
42 · 28rose · fell
106unchanged

Rose most

Benin-0.160 → 0.924+1.084
Liberia-0.576 → 0.491+1.067
Malawi0.282 → 1.223+0.941
Vietnam0.360 → 1.192+0.832
Dominican Republic0.973 → 1.779+0.806

Fell most

Belarus1.661 → -3.402−5.063
Guinea-0.317 → -2.133−1.816
Mali-0.036 → -1.337−1.301
Burundi0.438 → -0.744−1.182
Uganda-0.269 → -1.448−1.179

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 2020.
172 distinct values among 176
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 1.875. 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 · 4.8 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download internet-shutdowns-2020-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
V-Dem Institute’s own file, on its own site.
V-Dem-CY-FullOthers-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 (2020). Government Internet Shutdowns, 2020 [data set], describing 2020. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/internet-shutdowns/2020

0626 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Government Internet Shutdowns, 2019
176 countries
The year after ›
Government Internet Shutdowns, 2021
176 countries
All of them
Government Internet Shutdowns: every year
26 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions