The NGO's annual ranking, which was established in 2002, uses a five-point scale to asses the level of press freedom in a country, ranging from "very serious" to "good".
This year's index reveals a global trend towards restricting press freedoms.
"For the first time in the indexs 25-year history, more than half the worlds countries now fall into the 'difficult' or 'very serious' categories for press freedom,"RSFsaid.
The proportion of the population living in a country where the press freedom situation is "good" has plummeted, falling from 20% to "less than 1%", it said.
Only seven countries in northernEuropeare ranked "good", withNorwayreceiving the highest rating.Franceranks 25th, with a "satisfactory" score.
In 25 years, the average score for all the countries studied has never been so low, the NGO said.
The United States, received a "problematic" rating and has dropped seven places to 64th, betweenBotswanaandPanama.
The organisation said USPresident Donald Trump's attacks on the press had become systematic resulting in such incidents as the the detention and subsequent deportation of the Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who was reporting on the arrests of migrants in the United States.
Trump has also overseen a drastic reduction in funding for US international broadcasting.
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RSF also highlighted the dramatic falls ofEl Salvador(143rd), which has dropped 105 places since 2014 following the launch of a war against the Maras criminal gangs, andGeorgia(135th), which has fallen 75 places since 2020 due to an escalation of repression.
The sharpest decline in 2026 is attributed toNiger(120th, down 37 places) due to the the deterioration of press freedom in the Sahel over several years, amid attacks by armed groups and (the) ruling juntas, RSF said.
Saudi Arabia(176th, down 14 places), where the columnist Turki al-Jasser was executed by the state in June a unique occurrence in the world sits alongsideRussia,Iranand China at the very bottom of the ranking, which is rounded out byEritrea(180th).
By contrast,Syria(141st) has leapt 36 places following the fall of Bashar al-Assads regime.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Originally published on France24
