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Data for 1997

Government Censorship of the Media, 1997

1997, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Government Censorship of the Media, 1997 covers 173 countries. Belgium is highest, at 3.489; Uzbekistan is lowest, at -3.066. The middle country reads 0.536. Against 1996, 24 values changed (13 up, 11 down), the same countries are covered.

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Government Censorship of the Media · Data for 1997

HighestBelgium

3.489

LowestUzbekistan

-3.066

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, 1997, 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 173 countries · select a heading to sort

Government Censorship of the Media, 1997: 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
10IrelandIRLNorthern Europe2.989
11CzechiaCZEEastern Europe2.916
12EstoniaESTNorthern Europe2.858
13New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand2.749
14SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe2.649
15LatviaLVANorthern Europe2.634
16AustriaAUTWestern Europe2.610
17Costa RicaCRICentral America2.601
18United StatesUSANorthern America2.595
19ChileCHLSouth America2.576
20CanadaCANNorthern America2.573
21GreeceGRCSouthern Europe2.487
22MaliMLIWestern Africa2.404
23ItalyITASouthern Europe2.401
24HungaryHUNEastern Europe2.361
25BeninBENWestern Africa2.306

02In 1997

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. 173Uzbekistan-3.066
  2. 172Syria-3.045
  3. 171Afghanistan-2.865
  4. 170North Korea-2.775
  5. 169Turkmenistan-2.720

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.536. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031996 → 1997

Since 1996

What changed between 1996 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 24values changed, of 173 in both
  • 13 · 11rose · fell
  • 149unchanged

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 1997.

  • 172 distinct values among 173

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.829. 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 173 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 (1997). Government Censorship of the Media, 1997 [data set], describing 1997. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/media-censorship/1997

0636 held

Other years

07Questions

Government Censorship of the Media, 1997: questions and answers

Which country has the highest media censorship in Government Censorship of the Media, 1997?

Belgium, at 3.489, of the 173 countries in the file.

What year does Government Censorship of the Media, 1997 describe?

1997.

How many countries does Government Censorship of the Media, 1997 cover?

173.

Where can I download Government Censorship of the Media, 1997?

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, 1997 the newest?

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

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