May 1 — Human rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published the World Press Freedom Index, according to which Ukraine improved its ranking by seven places over the year and ranked 55th out of 180 countries.

The World Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries published by RSF on World Press Freedom Day, based on the organization’s assessment of its own data on press freedom around the world.

The RSF 2026 report noted that, for the first time in the history of the ranking, more than half of the world’s countries fell into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories regarding press freedom, and the average score for all 180 countries “has never been so low.”

Ukraine has shown improvement in political, social, and cultural indicators. But RSF pointed out some restrictions on freedom of speech in Ukraine, including limited access to frontline regions, unfinished court cases involving the persecution of media workers, and the impact of the national telethon on media pluralism. They also mentioned Russian attacks and the risks journalists face because of the war.

Despite this, Ukraine overtook the US in the ranking, which dropped seven spots to 64th place. This was caused by US President Donald Trump’s regular attacks on the media and individual journalists, RSF said.

Norway topped the ranking, having held the top spot for the tenth year in a row. Eritrea, meanwhile, came in last for the third time.

Syria showed the greatest improvement, rising 36 places in the ranking following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

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