DUSHANBE, May 3, Asia-Plus - Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization supporting the expansion of freedom in the world, has released the findings from its 2007 edition of Freedom of the Press, an annual survey tracking trends in global media freedom for more information, including scores, a map of press freedom, draft narrative reports on each country and an overview essay outlining major global and regional trends.

195 countries and territories were examined and out of them, 74 (38 percent) were rated Free, while 58 (30 percent) were rated Partly Free, and 63 (32 percent) were rated Not Free.

In terms of population, 18 percent of the world’s inhabitants live in countries that enjoy a Free press, while 39 percent have a Partly Free press and 43 percent have a Not Free press.

The study noted a longer-term trend of press freedom decline or stagnation in a number of crucial countries and regions, particularly the Americas and the former Soviet Union.

Tajikistan has been ranked 166 in terms of freedom of the press.    

Out the former Soviet republics, only Estonia (16), Lithuania (29) and Latvia (31) are rated Free, Ukraine (112) and Georgia are rated Partially Free, while the other former Soviet republic are rated Not Free, with Armenia ranked 142,  Moldova 144, Kyrgyzstan 147, Azerbaijan and Russia 164, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan 166, Belarus 186, and Uzbekistan 189. 

Another  former Soviet republic, Turkmenistan (191), is among the five worst rated countries together with Burma, Cuba, Libya, and North Korea.  According to the report, in these states, which are scattered across the globe, independent media are either nonexistent or barely able to operate, the press acts as a mouthpiece for the ruling regime, and citizens’ access to unbiased information is severely limited. The numerical scores for these five countries have barely changed in relation to the previous year, reflecting a level of extreme repression and stagnation for the media.