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

Middle East and North Africa

Share this chart
In crisis
0-19
Highly restricted
20-39
Restricted
40-59
Less restricted
60-79
Open
80-100
Countries per expression category
10
5
3
People per expression category
355m
103m
The Middle East and North Africa region has the lowest Regional Expression Score and Human Score in the world.

Both scores saw a bump after the Arab Spring, but those gains have been incrementally eroded over the last 10 years.

Not a single country in the region has been categorised as Open in the last two decades, and more than half (56%) the countries in the region are now in Crisis.
Share this chart
Advances in expression are rare in the Middle East and North Africa: Neither over the last decade nor in the last year has a single country advanced in score. Between 2017 and 2022, however, Israel saw a 7-point increase. 

Over the past decade, country-level scores in the region have seen a combined decrease of 108 points. These declines have ranged from 28 points (Yemen) to 3 points (United Arab Emirates): a smaller range of declines than in other regions, mostly due to how low Expression Scores in the region already are. 

Violations of freedom of expression are muted by the already-low scores in much of the region: While crackdowns occur and repression escalates, the scores have nowhere left to fall, and thus do not register as significant declines.
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.