Press Freedom Index: Situation in Uzbekistan remains "very serious"

While Uzbekistan’s position in the global ranking rose by one spot compared to last year, its overall score saw a decline. International observers assigned the country a score of 34.95 points out of 100, down from 35.24 points in 2025. This decrease suggests that despite a minor upward movement in rank, the actual environment for press freedom has not improved and has, in fact, slightly deteriorated.

The updated index reveals a mixed performance across different criteria. Uzbekistan showed improved scores in the economic and security indicators; however, these gains were offset by falling scores in political, legal, and social indicators. This trend follows the 2025 report, which recorded a decline across all five measurable categories for the country.

The Press Freedom Index, which Uzbekistan identifies as a critical international benchmark, categorizes the media environment in 180 countries into five levels: "good," "satisfactory," "problematic," "difficult," and "very serious." Historically, Uzbekistan spent many years in the "very serious" category before moving into the "difficult" group in 2019 following a series of reforms initiated in 2016–2017. However, the country regressed to the "very serious" classification in 2024 and has remained there since.

Within the Central Asian region, the 2026 rankings show a competitive but struggling landscape. Kyrgyzstan holds the 146th position, followed closely by Uzbekistan at 147th and Kazakhstan at 149th. Tajikistan and Turkmenistan remain further down the list at 155th and 173rd, respectively.

On a global scale, RSF analysts identified only seven countries where the press freedom situation is rated as "good": Norway, the Netherlands, Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Ireland. The report highlights a worrying global trend, noting that media freedom declined in 100 out of 180 countries over the past year. Reporters Without Borders warned that political pressure on the press is intensifying worldwide, alongside growing autocratic tendencies and a sharply weakening media market.