Africa’s Press Freedom in 2025: Who Leads, Who Suppresses, and Why It Matters
Every year, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) releases its World Press Freedom Index — and every year, Africa’s results tell two radically different stories. In 2025, the continent spans nearly the entire spectrum of the 180-country ranking, from a globally competitive South Africa at 27th place to a suffocating Eritrea dead last at 180th. The gap between those two realities is not merely statistical — it is the difference between a journalist filing a story and a journalist disappearing for filing one.
How RSF Measures Press Freedom — and Why the Methodology Matters
The World Press Freedom Index does not simply count imprisoned journalists. RSF evaluates 180 countries across five weighted criteria: political context, legal framework, economic pressures on media outlets, sociocultural constraints, and the physical safety of journalists. Each country receives a score out of 100, where higher scores indicate greater freedom. This multi-dimensional approach means a country can have no journalists in prison yet still rank poorly — if, for example, advertising monopolies controlled by the state are quietly strangling independent newsrooms financially. Understanding this framework is essential to reading Africa’s rankings with any real depth.
Africa’s Best Performers: Southern and West Africa Set the Standard
South Africa leads the continent in 2025 with a global rank of 27th and a score of 75.71 — a position that reflects decades of constitutional press protections enshrined after the end of apartheid in 1994. The country’s Section 16 constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression, combined with an active civil society and a competitive private media sector, gives journalists meaningful legal recourse. Namibia follows closely at 28th globally (75.35), consistently punching above its weight for a nation of just 2.6 million people. Cabo Verde, the Atlantic island archipelago, holds 30th place globally with a score of 74.98, benefiting from political stability and a small but fiercely independent press corps.
Further down the top tier, Ghana ranks 52nd globally (67.13) and Gambia 58th (65.49) — both West African nations that have undergone significant democratic transitions in recent years. Gambia’s improvement is particularly striking: under former President Yahya Jammeh, who ruled until 2017, journalists faced torture and enforced disappearance. The country’s post-Jammeh press environment, while still fragile, represents one of the most dramatic turnarounds on the continent. Liberia (54th, 66.61) and Sierra Leone (56th, 66.36) also rank respectably, suggesting that post-conflict societies can rebuild functional media ecosystems when political will exists. Senegal, despite recent political turbulence surrounding the 2024 elections, still places 74th globally with a score of 59.43.
The Worst Offenders: Authoritarianism, Conflict, and Systematic Silence
Eritrea finishes last on the entire global index — 180th out of 180 countries — with a score of just 11.32. There is no independent press in Eritrea. President Isaias Afwerki’s government shut down all private media in September 2001, and journalists arrested at that time remain imprisoned without trial to this day, more than two decades later. Egypt ranks 170th globally (24.74), where the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has systematically dismantled editorial independence since 2013 through ownership consolidation, mass arrests, and the blocking of hundreds of news websites. Djibouti sits at 168th (25.36), a country where state media holds a near-total monopoly and foreign correspondents operate under persistent surveillance.
Sudan ranks 156th (30.34) amid the catastrophic civil war that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces — a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and made independent reporting physically life-threatening. Rwanda places 146th (35.84), where the government of President Paul Kagame maintains sophisticated control over media narratives, often using defamation and “genocide ideology” laws to silence critical voices. Ethiopia (145th, 36.92) and Uganda (143rd, 37.61) round out a cluster of East African states where legal harassment of journalists is routine and self-censorship is widespread. Even Somalia, despite incremental improvements in some urban areas, ranks 136th (40.49) as journalists covering al-Shabaab activity face assassination with near-total impunity.
Two Rankings That Demand a Second Look
Gabon’s appearance at 41st globally (70.65) is striking given that the country’s military ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba in a coup in August 2023. The transitional military government, the Comité pour la Transition et la Restauration des Institutions (CTRI), has so far avoided the press crackdowns that typically follow such seizures of power — a fragile situation worth monitoring closely. Equally notable is the Central African Republic at 72nd globally (60.15). The CAR has been mired in armed conflict for over a decade, yet its score reflects a media environment that, in the capital Bangui at least, retains more operational freedom than many more stable neighbors. Context, as always, complicates the rankings.
What the Data Actually Tells Us About Africa’s Democratic Trajectory
Press freedom in Africa in 2025 is not a regional story — it is a story of institutional choices. The countries at the top of the rankings share functioning constitutional courts, multi-party competition, and legal frameworks that treat journalism as a public good rather than a political threat. Those at the bottom share the opposite: concentrated executive power, weak judiciaries, and a pattern of treating the press as an adversary to be managed. The 2025 index makes one thing unmistakably clear — where journalists can work freely, accountability follows. Where they cannot, impunity does.
