The Press Freedom Index was calculated using the methodology used in RSF 2002-2012 reports. The Press Freedom Index measures the amount of freedom journalists, and the media have in each country, and the efforts made by governments to see that press freedom is respected. It does not take account of all human rights violations, only those that affect press freedom. Neither is it an indicator of the quality of a country's media.

Note: Press Freedom Index for 2002-2012 is reversely ordered, which means countries with less press freedom got higher scores.

Except for 2012, the index ranges between 0 (total press freedom) and 100 (no press freedom). However, for the 2012 data release, RSF changed the scale so that negative values could be assigned to countries with more press freedom. We have decided to leave the data as is.