Data for 1998

Government Censorship of the Media, 1998

Name: Government Censorship of the Media, 1998
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1998, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Government Censorship of the Media, 1998 covers 174 countries. Belgium is highest, at 3.489; Uzbekistan is lowest, at -3.066. The middle country reads 0.537. Against 1997, 17 values changed (10 up, 7 down), 1 country joined.

Download CSV Cite this year

Share this page

Government Censorship of the Media · Data for 1998

HighestBelgium

3.489

LowestUzbekistan

-3.066

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

174countries
1measure
1998the 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 Censorship of the Media, 1998, 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 174 countries · select a heading to sort

Government Censorship of the Media, 1998: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	3.489
2	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	3.380
3	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	3.378
4	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	3.355
5	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	3.258
6	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	3.255
7	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	3.254
8	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	3.173
9	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	3.043
10	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	2.989
11	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	2.916
12	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	2.858
13	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	2.749
14	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	2.649
15	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	2.634
16	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	2.610
17	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	2.601
18	United States`USA`Northern America	2.595
19	Chile`CHL`South America	2.576
20	Canada`CAN`Northern America	2.573
21	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	2.515
22	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	2.487
23	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	2.404
24	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	2.401
25	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	2.306
26	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	2.299
27	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	2.295
28	Suriname`SUR`South America	2.286
29	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	2.248
30	France`FRA`Western Europe	2.241
31	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	2.152
32	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	2.136
33	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	2.119
34	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	2.111
35	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	2.109
36	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	2.089
37	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	2.077
38	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	2.052
39	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	2.032
40	Brazil`BRA`South America	2.000
41	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	1.898
42	Niger`NER`Western Africa	1.784
43	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	1.772
44	India`IND`Southern Asia	1.763
45	Colombia`COL`South America	1.741
46	Uruguay`URY`South America	1.730
47	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	1.726
48	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	1.725
49	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	1.695
50	Argentina`ARG`South America	1.661
51	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	1.656
52	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	1.545
53	Panama`PAN`Central America	1.529
54	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	1.524
55	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	1.494
56	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	1.467
57	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	1.399
58	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	1.389
59	Venezuela`VEN`South America	1.368
60	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	1.365
61	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	1.358
62	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	1.333
63	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	1.264
64	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	1.195
65	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	1.111
66	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	1.065
67	Bolivia`BOL`South America	1.059
68	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	1.017
69	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	1.001
70	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.949
71	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.919
72	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.879
73	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.850
=74	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.829
=74	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.829
76	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.807
77	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.788
78	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.776
79	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.732
80	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.643
81	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.642
82	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.635
83	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.585
84	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.555
85	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.543
=86	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.537
=86	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.537
88	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.536
89	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.526
90	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.520
91	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.513
92	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.503
93	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.469
94	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.459
95	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.451
96	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.394
97	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.387
98	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.357
99	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.336
100	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.303
101	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.280
102	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.260
103	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.257
104	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.189
105	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.164
106	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.147
107	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.131
108	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.130
109	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.079
110	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.004
111	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	-0.003
112	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	-0.010
113	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	-0.013
114	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	-0.052
115	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	-0.116
116	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	-0.123
117	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	-0.186
118	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	-0.203
119	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	-0.239
120	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	-0.261
121	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	-0.276
122	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	-0.303
123	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	-0.353
124	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	-0.371
125	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	-0.429
126	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	-0.447
127	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	-0.479
128	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	-0.496
129	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	-0.526
130	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	-0.622
131	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	-0.659
132	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	-0.665
133	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	-0.674
134	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	-0.677
135	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	-0.689
136	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	-0.694
137	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	-0.708
138	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	-0.803
139	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	-0.933
140	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	-0.964
141	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	-0.973
142	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	-1.027
143	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	-1.056
144	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	-1.068
145	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	-1.123
146	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	-1.166
147	Guyana`GUY`South America	-1.181
148	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	-1.237
149	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	-1.300
150	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	-1.305
151	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	-1.322
152	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	-1.324
153	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	-1.452
154	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	-1.464
155	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	-1.711
156	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	-1.715
157	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	-1.758
158	Peru`PER`South America	-1.764
159	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	-1.781
160	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	-1.949
161	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	-2.003
162	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	-2.081
163	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	-2.093
164	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	-2.219
165	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	-2.227
166	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	-2.254
167	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	-2.256
168	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	-2.362
169	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	-2.521
170	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	-2.720
171	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	-2.775
172	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	-2.865
173	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	-3.045
174	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	-3.066

02In 1998

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

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

Lowest

174Uzbekistan-3.066
173Syria-3.045
172Afghanistan-2.865
171North Korea-2.775
170Turkmenistan-2.720

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.537. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031997 → 1998

Since 1997

What changed between 1997 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+1 / −0countries joined / left
17values changed, of 173 in both
10 · 7rose · fell
156unchanged

Rose most

Indonesia-1.674 → 0.130+1.804
DR Congo-0.581 → 0.543+1.124
Morocco-1.142 → -0.496+0.646
South Korea1.901 → 2.515+0.614
Tajikistan-1.212 → -0.659+0.553

Fell most

Belarus-0.509 → -1.452−0.943
Hungary2.361 → 1.725−0.636
Armenia0.339 → -0.052−0.391
Sierra Leone0.815 → 0.537−0.278
Iran-1.157 → -1.322−0.165

+ Montenegro

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 1998.
172 distinct values among 174
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 174 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
174 rows · 4.8 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download media-censorship-1998-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
V-Dem Institute’s own file, on its own site.
V-Dem-CY-Core-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 (1998). Government Censorship of the Media, 1998 [data set], describing 1998. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/media-censorship/1998

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Government Censorship of the Media, 1997
173 countries
The year after ›
Government Censorship of the Media, 1999
175 countries
All of them
Government Censorship of the Media: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions