Over half of the region’s population lives in a country where expression is Highly Restricted or In Crisis.
• There are no countries in this region ranked as ‘Open’
• Three countries experienced significant declines in expression in the last year (a score drop of at least 5 points):Niger (10 points), Tanzania (9 points), and the Côte d’Ivoire (7 points).
• Only 1 country in the region advanced in expression in the last year: Guinea, which advanced by 5 points, moving from In Crisis to Highly Restricted.
• Over the last decade, 20 countries experienced a decline in freedom of expression, 5 of which were significant (score drops ofat least 20 points). The largest drop was in Burkina Faso (55 points), followed by Togo (33 points) and Mali (32 points).
• Only 5 countries saw an advance in expression over the decade, and only 1 of those was significant: The Gambia, whichadvanced by 61 points.
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