Data for 2021

Government Internet Shutdowns, 2021

Name: Government Internet Shutdowns, 2021
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2021, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Government Internet Shutdowns, 2021 covers 176 countries. Spain is highest, at 2.081; North Korea is lowest, at -3.900. The middle country reads 1.021. Against 2020, 59 values changed (30 up, 29 down), the same countries are covered.

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Government Internet Shutdowns · Data for 2021

HighestSpain

2.081

LowestNorth Korea

-3.900

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

176countries
1measure
2021the year it describes
169distinct 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, 2021, 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, 2021: 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	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	1.962
6	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	1.948
7	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	1.920
8	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	1.917
9	Chile`CHL`South America	1.912
10	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	1.908
11	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	1.906
12	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	1.904
13	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	1.903
14	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	1.902
15	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	1.901
16	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	1.900
17	Argentina`ARG`South America	1.889
18	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	1.887
19	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	1.881
20	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	1.880
21	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	1.879
22	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	1.877
=23	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	1.875
=23	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	1.875
25	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	1.874
26	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	1.873
27	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	1.869
28	Mexico`MEX`Central America	1.867
29	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	1.864
30	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	1.853
31	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	1.852
32	Uruguay`URY`South America	1.847
33	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	1.839
34	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	1.822
35	Suriname`SUR`South America	1.821
36	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	1.814
37	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	1.808
38	Panama`PAN`Central America	1.806
39	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	1.802
40	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	1.789
41	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	1.784
42	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	1.779
43	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	1.778
44	Honduras`HND`Central America	1.769
45	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	1.755
46	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	1.748
47	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	1.746
=48	Guyana`GUY`South America	1.732
=48	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	1.732
50	Canada`CAN`Northern America	1.731
51	Brazil`BRA`South America	1.714
52	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	1.696
53	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	1.685
54	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	1.680
55	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	1.670
56	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	1.637
57	Peru`PER`South America	1.506
58	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	1.490
59	Paraguay`PRY`South America	1.488
60	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	1.482
61	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	1.471
62	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	1.458
63	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	1.455
64	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	1.448
65	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	1.421
66	Bolivia`BOL`South America	1.384
67	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	1.351
68	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	1.332
69	France`FRA`Western Europe	1.330
70	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	1.324
71	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	1.307
72	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	1.305
73	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	1.277
74	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	1.264
75	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	1.219
76	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	1.217
77	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	1.196
78	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	1.169
79	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	1.134
80	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	1.116
81	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	1.111
82	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	1.101
83	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	1.082
84	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	1.047
85	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	1.045
86	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	1.038
87	United States`USA`Northern America	1.025
=88	Ecuador`ECU`South America	1.021
=88	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	1.021
90	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	1.003
=91	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.979
=91	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.979
93	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.950
94	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.943
95	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.936
96	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.928
97	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.858
98	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.857
99	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.827
100	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.805
101	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.790
102	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.719
103	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.693
104	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.543
105	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.517
106	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.491
107	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.468
108	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.460
109	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.443
110	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.406
111	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.387
112	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.358
113	Colombia`COL`South America	0.283
114	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.258
115	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.188
116	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.114
117	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.096
118	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.021
119	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	-0.009
120	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	-0.010
121	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	-0.016
122	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	-0.105
123	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	-0.167
124	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	-0.237
125	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	-0.248
126	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	-0.252
127	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	-0.271
128	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	-0.277
129	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	-0.385
130	Niger`NER`Western Africa	-0.398
131	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	-0.484
132	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	-0.563
133	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	-0.581
134	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	-0.604
=135	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	-0.626
=135	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	-0.626
137	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	-0.632
=138	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	-0.670
=138	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	-0.670
=140	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	-0.687
=140	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	-0.687
142	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	-0.724
143	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	-0.802
144	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	-0.941
145	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	-0.979
146	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	-1.024
147	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	-1.033
148	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	-1.036
149	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	-1.105
150	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	-1.149
151	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	-1.165
152	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	-1.332
153	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	-1.337
154	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	-1.431
155	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	-1.459
156	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	-1.500
157	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	-1.518
158	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	-1.549
159	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	-1.555
160	Venezuela`VEN`South America	-1.647
161	India`IND`Southern Asia	-1.732
162	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	-1.785
163	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	-1.802
164	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	-1.811
165	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	-1.819
166	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	-1.982
167	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	-2.054
168	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	-2.132
169	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	-2.154
170	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	-2.384
171	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	-2.608
172	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	-2.632
173	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	-2.698
174	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	-2.742
175	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	-2.769
176	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	-3.900

02In 2021

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Spain2.081
2Portugal2.038
3Barbados2.004
4South Korea1.979
5Cyprus1.962

Lowest

176North Korea-3.900
175Turkmenistan-2.769
174South Sudan-2.742
173Belarus-2.698
172Myanmar-2.632

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 1.021. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032020 → 2021

Since 2020

What changed between 2020 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
59values changed, of 176 in both
30 · 29rose · fell
117unchanged

Rose most

Iraq-1.539 → -0.563+0.976
Solomon Islands0.335 → 1.134+0.799
Guatemala1.033 → 1.802+0.769
Eritrea-2.518 → -1.811+0.707
Belarus-3.402 → -2.698+0.704

Fell most

Zambia1.967 → 0.096−1.871
Myanmar-1.012 → -2.632−1.620
Eswatini-0.230 → -1.819−1.589
United States1.952 → 1.025−0.927
Colombia1.075 → 0.283−0.792

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 2021.
169 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-2021-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 (2021). Government Internet Shutdowns, 2021 [data set], describing 2021. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/internet-shutdowns/2021

0626 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Government Internet Shutdowns, 2020
176 countries
The year after ›
Government Internet Shutdowns, 2022
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