World Press Freedom Index
- How often
- Each new editionOnce a year
- Last released
- 1 May 20262026
2026, down from 151 of 180 in 2025.
Events on this chart
Source: Reporters Without Borders, released 1 May 2026 · Chart: Clarity UPSC
- Previous
- 151 of 1802025
- Highest
- 161 of 1802023
- Lowest
- 150 of 1802022
5 readings since 2022.
Story
India's rank on press freedom.
What is happening now As of 2026
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks India 157th of 180 countries in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, with a score of 31.96, down from 151st and 32.96 in 2025. A score below 40 places India in RSF's 'very serious' category. The political indicator fell most, from 24.30 to 21.16; the economic and legal indicators also fell, while the social and safety indicators improved slightly.
RSF's country profile points to media ownership concentrated in a few conglomerates that it describes as mostly allied with the government, the use of colonial-era sedition and defamation laws and of anti-terrorism laws against journalists, and newsrooms' dependence on government advertising. It says that on average two to three journalists are killed in India every year because of their work, and that journalists critical of the government face online harassment, threats and physical attacks.
Why it matters
A free press lets people learn what governments, companies and other powerful groups are doing, and question it. When journalists can report safely, voters can judge their leaders and wrongdoing is more likely to come to light.
The index is one of the measures the Sustainable Development Report uses for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16, on peace, justice and strong institutions. Its five parts (political, legal, economic, social and safety) show what kind of pressure the media face in each country.
What it is
The World Press Freedom Index compares how freely journalists and media can work in 180 countries and territories. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international non-profit organisation headquartered in Paris, publishes it every year.
Since 2022 each country gets a score from 0 to 100 built from five indicators: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and safety. The scores combine a tally of abuses against journalists and media with answers to an RSF questionnaire from press freedom specialists, including journalists, researchers, academics and human rights defenders. The five indicators count equally.
100 is the best score. Scores of 85–100 are 'good', 70–85 'satisfactory', 55–70 'problematic', 40–55 'difficult' and below 40 'very serious'. Rank 1 is the freest country, so a lower rank number is better.
Read this number
Terms on this page (2)
- RSF
- Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières)
- SDG
- Sustainable Development Goal
History
- 1985Four journalists found Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in Montpellier.
- 2002RSF publishes the first World Press Freedom Index.
- 2013First major overhaul of the method.
- 2022A new method with five indicators and a 0–100 scale, where 100 is best. An expert panel formed in 2020 developed it.
- 2026Looking back over 25 years, RSF finds the average score of all 180 countries at its lowest level.
Readings
| Period | Value | Status | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 157 of 180 | Final | 1 May 2026 |
| 2025 | 151 of 180 | Final | 1 May 2025 |
| 2024 | 159 of 180 | Final | 1 May 2024 |
| 2023 | 161 of 180 | Final | 1 May 2023 |
| 2022 | 150 of 180 | Final | 1 May 2022 |
For UPSC
Know the publisher, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), headquartered in Paris, the five indicators, and that since 2022 a higher score means more press freedom.