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Data for 1991

Government Censorship of the Media, 1991

1991, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Government Censorship of the Media, 1991 covers 171 countries. Belgium is highest, at 3.489; Syria is lowest, at -3.045. The middle country reads 0.387. Against 1990, 50 values changed (38 up, 12 down), 3 countries joined.

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Government Censorship of the Media · Data for 1991

HighestBelgium

3.489

LowestSyria

-3.045

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

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Government Censorship of the Media, 1991, 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 171 countries · select a heading to sort

Government Censorship of the Media, 1991: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1BelgiumBELWestern Europe3.489
2GermanyDEUWestern Europe3.380
3SwedenSWENorthern Europe3.378
4AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand3.355
5DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe3.258
6FinlandFINNorthern Europe3.255
7NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe3.254
8SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe3.173
9LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe3.043
10CzechiaCZEEastern Europe2.916
11New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand2.749
12AustriaAUTWestern Europe2.610
13Costa RicaCRICentral America2.601
14CanadaCANNorthern America2.573
15GreeceGRCSouthern Europe2.487
16ItalyITASouthern Europe2.401
17ChileCHLSouth America2.313
18IrelandIRLNorthern Europe2.311
19BeninBENWestern Africa2.306
20PortugalPRTSouthern Europe2.299
21JapanJPNEastern Asia2.295
22IcelandISLNorthern Europe2.248
23FranceFRAWestern Europe2.241
24EstoniaESTNorthern Europe2.182
25NepalNPLSouthern Asia2.152

02In 1991

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. 1Belgium3.489
  2. 2Germany3.380
  3. 3Sweden3.378
  4. 4Australia3.355
  5. 5Denmark3.258

Lowest

  1. 171Syria-3.045
  2. 170North Korea-2.775
  3. 169Malawi-2.730
  4. 168Angola-2.571
  5. 167United Arab Emirates-2.560

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.387. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031990 → 1991

Since 1990

What changed between 1990 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +3 / −0countries joined / left
  • 50values changed, of 168 in both
  • 38 · 12rose · fell
  • 118unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

+ Croatia+ North Macedonia+ Somaliland

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 1991.

  • 167 distinct values among 171

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.740. 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 171 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 (1991). Government Censorship of the Media, 1991 [data set], describing 1991. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/media-censorship/1991

0636 held

Other years

07Questions

Government Censorship of the Media, 1991: questions and answers

Which country has the highest media censorship in Government Censorship of the Media, 1991?

Belgium, at 3.489, of the 171 countries in the file.

What year does Government Censorship of the Media, 1991 describe?

1991.

How many countries does Government Censorship of the Media, 1991 cover?

171.

Where can I download Government Censorship of the Media, 1991?

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

Is Government Censorship of the Media, 1991 the newest?

No. The newest held here is Government Censorship of the Media, 2025.

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