World Press Freedom Index |12 July 2019

Seychelles climbs up 16 steps

The Republic of Seychelles has climbed up a staggering 16 steps on the World Press Freedom Index to be positioned 69^th in the ranking, behind Madagascar, Comoros and Mauritius.

The index ranks 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists and is a snapshot of the media freedom situation based on an evaluation of pluralism, independence of the media, quality of legislative framework and safety of journalists in each country and region. It has been published every year since 2020 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and is an important advocacy tool based on the principle of emulation between states.

Seychelles was ranked 85^th in the 2018 Press Freedom Rankings and despite the significant improvement in the rankings, is still categorised as ‘problematic’ as per the colour categories assigned by RSF which stipulates that countries assigned orange are still somewhat problematic in the context of Press Freedom.

As per the newly published Index, the countries ranked as the top 10 are Norway, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, New Zealand, Jamaica, Belgium and Costa Rica.

In terms of countries within Africa, Seychelles is ranked behind Namibia (23^rd), Cabo Verde (25^th), Ghana (27^th) and South Africa which is ranked 31^st. Burkina Faso also surpassed Seychelles and is ranked 36^th worldwide.

Indian Ocean states are still lagging behind European states with Madagascar ranking 54^th followed closely by Comoros at the 56^th position and Mauritius 58^th.

The United States of America (USA) has slipped down three places on the ranking to now rank 48^th worldwide while Italy has climbed up three steps to 43^rd position. Canada remains the 18^th country on the rankings while France has also climbed up a step to 32^nd position. The United Kingdom (UK) has also climbed up seven steps to rank 33^rd.