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Data for 2019

Government Censorship of the Media, 2019

2019, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Government Censorship of the Media, 2019 covers 176 countries. Belgium is highest, at 3.489; Syria is lowest, at -3.045. The middle country reads 0.824. Against 2018, 91 values changed (40 up, 51 down), the same countries are covered.

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Government Censorship of the Media · Data for 2019

HighestBelgium

3.489

LowestSyria

-3.045

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

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Government Censorship of the Media, 2019, 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 176 countries · select a heading to sort

Government Censorship of the Media, 2019: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1BelgiumBELWestern Europe3.489
2SwedenSWENorthern Europe3.378
3NorwayNORNorthern Europe3.299
4PortugalPRTSouthern Europe3.296
5DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe3.258
6EstoniaESTNorthern Europe3.201
7SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe3.173
8LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe3.043
9CanadaCANNorthern America3.013
10FinlandFINNorthern Europe2.939
11GermanyDEUWestern Europe2.887
12ItalyITASouthern Europe2.859
13IcelandISLNorthern Europe2.849
14UruguayURYSouth America2.797
15NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe2.760
16New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand2.749
17LatviaLVANorthern Europe2.618
18KosovoXKXSouthern Europe2.611
19United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe2.476
20AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand2.424
21South KoreaKOREastern Asia2.371
22IrelandIRLNorthern Europe2.366
23SenegalSENWestern Africa2.282
24SpainESPSouthern Europe2.241
25Costa RicaCRICentral America2.233

02In 2019

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. 1Belgium3.489
  2. 2Sweden3.378
  3. 3Norway3.299
  4. 4Portugal3.296
  5. 5Denmark3.258

Lowest

  1. 176Syria-3.045
  2. 175South Sudan-3.017
  3. 174North Korea-2.775
  4. 173Turkmenistan-2.720
  5. 172Eritrea-2.700

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.824. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032018 → 2019

Since 2018

What changed between 2018 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 91values changed, of 176 in both
  • 40 · 51rose · fell
  • 85unchanged

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.

The site’s method

  • 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 2019.

  • 174 distinct values among 176

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 1.024. Countries sharing a value share a position too.

  • The position is ours

    V-Dem Institute publishes values only. The order here sorts the published values, and the page says so wherever it prints one.

  • Which end is better

    A higher value is the better result.

  • 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

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. Share, adapt and use commercially with credit — and anything you publish that adapts it must carry the same licence.

Cite this edition

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg (2019). Government Censorship of the Media, 2019 [data set], describing 2019. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/media-censorship/2019

0636 held

Other years

07Questions

Government Censorship of the Media, 2019: questions and answers

Which country has the highest media censorship in Government Censorship of the Media, 2019?

Belgium, at 3.489, of the 176 countries in the file.

What year does Government Censorship of the Media, 2019 describe?

2019.

How many countries does Government Censorship of the Media, 2019 cover?

176.

Where can I download Government Censorship of the Media, 2019?

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, 2019 the newest?

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

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