While nearly half of the regional population lives in Open countries (48%), a third are living in Crisis.

There has been no significant change in the Expression Score or Human Score for countries in Europe and Central Asia over the last year.

Over the last decade, however, the declines in the region’s Expression Score and Human Score have accelerated. Yet even with this drop in scores, all countries in the global top 10 are from this region. 

In the last year, 151 million people across 2 countries experienced a deterioration of their freedom of expression; no country in the region improved.

Kyrgyzstan saw the largest drop in the region (-6 points).

In the last 5 years, 393 million people across 17 countries experienced declines in their freedom of expression. During the same timeframe, 141 million people across 4 countries saw advances in their expression.

The largest decline in the region between 2018–2023 was seen in Kyrgyzstan (-26 points). Moldova’s score increased by 11 points during the same timeframe.

In the last decade, 627 million people across 25 countries experienced a deterioration of their freedom of expression; only 63 million people across 5 countries saw improvement.

The largest decline over the last 10 years took place in Poland (-27 points). North Macedonia’s score increased by 11 points over the same timeframe.