Malta has ranked 67th in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index 2025, with a global score of 62.96.

This placement in the 2025 index is an improvement over the 2024 index, as Malta’s placement has improved by six positions since the previous year, but it means that the country remains one of the worst ranked in the European Union.

Malta placed behind a wide variety of EU and non-EU countries, including Ukraine, the United States, Italy, Romania, and Brazil, along with just barely placing ahead of Hungary in 68th, which had a score of 62.82

Despite improving its position, Malta’s placement among EU countries is still weak, being the 23rd highest out of 27 EU countries on the index. In 2024, Malta had placed 26th out of 27 EU countries.

Pavol Szalai, the Head of RSF’s EU-Balkan area, said that the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia continues to cast a “dark shadow” on press freedom and the safety of journalists in the country.  The ongoing trial with the alleged bomb suppliers, he said, is expected be another step towards “full justice for the assassination which won’t be reached until the mastermind is convicted.”

He noted a ban on journalistic coverage on the alleged mastermind of the Caruana Galizia murder as disproportionately limited press freedom, and said that any significant improvement in press freedom is held back by the failure to implement the recommendations of the Caruana Galizia public inquiry.

On why Malta’s score has improved though, Szalai noted that the better score “reflects a certain optimism in 2024” as a result of the adoption of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) by the EU, the announcement about the implementation of anti-SLAPP measures by the Maltese government and by the prosecution of corruption revealed by journalists. 

He noted however that the EMFA has not been implemented yet, and that the anti-SLAPP legal notice is an “absolutely insufficient protection.”

Norway placed 1st on the index with a score of 92.31, followed by Estonia in 2nd and the Netherlands in 3rd.

Looking at some of the countries mentioned earlier and comparing their 2025 positions to their 2024 positions, Ukraine went down by one position, the United States went down by two, Italy went down by three, Romania went down by six, Brazil went up by nineteen positions.

In its analysis of the index, RSF stated that although physical attacks against journalists are the most visible violations of press freedom, economic pressure is also a major and more insidious problem. It continued that the economic indicator on the World Press Freedom Index now stands at a critical low, and added that the global state of press freedom is now classified as a “difficult situation” for the first time in the index’s history.

RSF describes the purpose of the World Press Freedom Index as an index to compare the level of freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in the included countries and territories. It states that the definition of press freedom used to compile the index is “the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest - independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety”.

Furthermore, RSF outlines the grades assigned to countries based on their score. A score of 85 to 100 points means that a country has “good” press freedom, while a score of 70 to 85 means that a country has “satisfactory” press freedom. Going down the grades, a score of 55 to 70 indicates “problematic” press freedom, a score of 40 to 55 is indicative of “difficult” press freedom, and a score of 0 to 40 means that a country’s press freedom situation is “very serious”.

Malta’s score of 62.96 means that the country’s press freedom situation is considered problematic.