Sri Lanka has climbed five places to rank 134th out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, scoring 40.77 on Reporters Without Borders’ annual assessment of media conditions, the rights organisation said on Thursday.
The country was ranked 139th in 2025. The report places Sri Lanka in the “difficult” tier of press freedom conditions.
RSF said press freedom challenges in Sri Lanka remain closely tied to the legacy of the civil war that ended in 2009, including the still-unpunished crimes of violence against journalists during the closing phases of that conflict. The media landscape, RSF added, “lacks diversity, is highly concentrated and dependent on major political clans.” Incidents in recent months — including a CID request to X seeking data on a journalist over an energy crisis post and a presidential media advisor accused of assaulting reporters — have drawn criticism from journalism bodies.
Globally, the 2026 report marked the first time in the Index’s 25-year history that more than half of the 180 countries surveyed fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories. The average global score has never been lower, RSF said, citing the steady expansion of restrictive legal frameworks tied to national security policy.
The legal indicator saw the steepest decline of any sub-component, RSF said, deteriorating in 110 of 180 states between 2025 and 2026. The organisation cited India (157th), Egypt (169th), Israel (116th) and Georgia (135th) as countries where the criminalisation of journalism through abusive charges and emergency legislation has accelerated.
The Asia-Pacific zone was assessed as one of the most repressive regions in the world. Of the 32 countries and territories evaluated, 21 fall in the “difficult” or “very serious” tier. RSF specifically warned that censorship and propaganda tactics developed by China and other regional authoritarian governments are now spreading beyond their borders.
Norway retained the top spot for the tenth consecutive year. Eritrea ranked last for the third year in a row.
The full 2026 World Press Freedom Index is available at rsf.org/en/index.
