Sign up for updates
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Share this chart

Americas

In crisis
0-19
Highly restricted
20-39
Restricted
40-59
Less restricted
60-79
Open
80-100
Countries per expression category
3
3
7
8
People per expression category
244m
261m
460m
Over the last few years, people in the Americas have experienced major losses in their freedom of expression.

The Regional Expression Score has fallen 8 points in the last decade, but the Human Score has seen a 13-point drop over the same period, signalling the serious impact of restrictions being imposed on large populations.

The Americas also have clear sub-regional tendencies: Countries in North America and the Southern Cone are Open, while Brazil and countries in Central America and the Caribbean tend to have more restricted expression environments.

Additionally, when we exclude the large populations of the US and Canada to focus only on Latin America and the Caribbean, scores – particularly the Human Score – drop significantly: from 68 in the Americas to 58 in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Share this chart
In the Americas, losses in freedom are far larger than gains.

Over the last decade, if we look at the sum of score declines in the region, we see a combined loss in expression of 210 points, set against a combined gain of only 42 points regionwide.

The vast majority of score changes in this region over the last decade have been declines in expression. In the last year, however, there was a small positive shift overall: a combined 25-point increase in expression, outweighing a combined decrease of only 14 points.

Change has also been less dramatic in the Americas than in other regions: The biggest drop was 40 points and the biggest advance was 17 points.
Share this chart
Share this chart

Regions

An overview of the regional data, including scores, rankings, advances and declines – plus data download.
Data for 2023
Sub-Saharan Africa
A map of Sub-Saharan Africa with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Americas
A map of the Americas with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Asia and the Pacific
A map of the Asia and the Pacific with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Europe and Central Asia
A map of Europe and Central Asia with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Middle East and North Africa
A map of the Middle East and North Africa with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Americas
A map of the Americas with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Asia and the Pacific
A map of the Asia and the Pacific with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Europe and Central Asia
A map of Europe and Central Asia with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Middle East and North Africa
A map of the Middle East and North Africa with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.

Regions (2023)

An overview of the regional data, including scores, rankings, advances and declines – plus data download.
Data for 2024
Sub-Saharan Africa
A map of Sub-Saharan Africa with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Americas
A map of the Americas with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Asia and the Pacific
A map of the Asia and the Pacific with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Europe and Central Asia
A map of Europe and Central Asia with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Middle East and North Africa
A map of the Middle East and North Africa with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Americas
A map of the Americas with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Asia and the Pacific
A map of the Asia and the Pacific with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Europe and Central Asia
A map of Europe and Central Asia with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.
Middle East and North Africa
A map of the Middle East and North Africa with different colour indicating freedom of expression scores.