The questionnaire was sent to Reporters Without Borders’ partner organisations (15 freedom of
expression groups in all five continents), to its network of 140 correspondents around the world,
and to journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. A scale devised by the
organisation was then used to give a countryscore to each questionnaire.
The 178 countries ranked are those for which Reporters Without Borders received completed
questionnaires from a number of independent sources. Some countries were not included
because of a lack of reliable, confirmed data. Where countries tied, they are listed in
alphabetical order.