Bhutan’s Press Freedom Ranking has declined once again. According to Reporters Without Borders, RSF’s 2025 World Press Freedom Index, Bhutan ranks 152nd out of 180 countries, dropping five places from last year’s 147th position.
Bhutan’s Press Freedom Ranking has been steadily declining over the last three years. From 33rd position in 2022, the ranking dropped to 90th position in 2023, which further dropped to 147th last year.
The RSF Index evaluates press freedom in 180 countries based on five indicators: political, economic, legislative, social, and security.
Of the five indicators, Bhutan scored the lowest in the social indicator, revealing self-censorship as the major concern, where many journalists avoid covering sensitive issues for fear of appearing to challenge the social order.
The report also highlighted that journalists in the country face challenges in accessing government and state-held information, ultimately denying the public access to information of public interest.
According to the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index, the global average score for press freedom dropped below 55 points for the first time, placing the overall situation in the “difficult” category.
This marks the first time in the index’s history that the global state of press freedom has been officially labelled as a “difficult situation.
Over 112 countries saw a decline in their press freedom scores.
The report also emphasised that today’s news media are struggling to balance maintaining editorial independence with ensuring financial sustainability.
Meanwhile, enjoying a good rating across all five indicators, Norway held on to its top spot for the ninth consecutive year. Estonia moved up to second place, followed by the Netherlands, which overtook Sweden in the world’s top three. In the bottom trio of the index are China, North Korea, and Eritrea.
Sonam Yuden
Edited by Phub Gyem
