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
11
5
2
1
People per expression category
379m
108m
18m
9m

The Middle East and North Africa region has the lowest Expression Score of any region.

• Nearly everyone in the Middle East and North Africa lives in a country in one of the bottom 2 expression categories – and not a single country in the region is ranked as ‘Open’.

• In the last decade, 8 countries experienced declines in freedom of expression, but only 1 of these was significant (a score drop of 20 points or more): Tunisia’s score decreased by 25 points.

• The only country in the region that declined over the last year declined significantly (a score drop of 5 points or more): Palestine dropped by 7 points, moving from ‘Highly Restricted’ to ‘In Crisis’.

• Only 1 country in the region experienced advances in expression over the last year, but its score change was not significant.
Share this chart

Eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa declined over the last decade, and only one country improved: Syria, whose score rose from 1 to 2 – still comfortably in the ‘In Crisis’ category.

Since the Arab Spring in 2011, significant changes in scores have been rare in the region – and many of the Arab Spring countries’ scores are now similar to, or lower than, pre-2011. Tunisia held onto its advances and remained in the ‘Less Restricted’ category until 2020, but its score has since plummeted.
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.