Estonia jumps to fourth in 2022 World Press Freedom Index rankings

ERR, May 2022

In just one year, Estonia has climbed nine spots from 15th to 4th in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index rankings published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday.

Topping RSF’s rankings of 180 countries this year was Norway, followed by Denmark and Sweden. Estonia and Finland ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with scores falling just short of Sweden’s.

Elsewhere in the region, Lithuania ranked ninth, Latvia 22nd, and Poland 66th this year.

Of major Western countries, Germany was ranked 16th, the U.K. 24th, France 26th and the U.S. 42nd.

Commenting on the situation in the U.S., RSF noted that despite the new presidential administration taking office last year, the polarization of the media there continues to feed and strengthen domestic social divides.

Ukraine was ranked 106th, down from 97th last year.

Belarus, meanwhile, was ranked 153rd and Russia 155th, down from 150th last year. RSF noted that both Ukraine and Russia’s drops in the rankings were the result of the propaganda war waged prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.