The 2025 Index on International Media Freedom Support
The IMFS Index ranks 30 countries on how actively they support media freedom beyond their borders through diplomatic, funding and safety initiatives. The Index draws on data from the previous calendar year (2024), except for the Official Development Assistance figures, which are for 2023. The Index is produced by an independent research group and is a joint project between the University of East Anglia and City St George’s, University of London.
What does the IMFS Index Measure?
High Performing Countries
Lithuania (1st) is the highest ranked country, largely due to its diplomatic efforts, including its leadership of two multilateral initiatives.
Sweden (2nd) spent a far higher proportion of its Official Development Assistance (ODA) on media development in 2023 than any other country (0.91%). It is the only country to get close to the benchmark of 1.0%, as recommended by the Forum on Information & Democracy.
France (5th) is the only country to award funding to all four qualifying multilateral pooled funds in 2024.
Latvia (9th) is the only country to have both an active emergency visa scheme dedicated to supporting journalists at risk and to support a national initiative that promotes the protection and safety of media workers in exile.
Concerning Findings
Almost two thirds of the 30 countries qualified for the lowest, bronze category, earning only 10 points or less. This includes four members of the G7: the United Kingdom (equal 12th), the United States (equal 12th), Italy (equal 24th), and Japan (28th).
The lowest ranked countries were Japan (28th), Slovenia (=29th) and South Korea (=29th) due to a relative lack of activity in diplomacy, funding and safety / protection. However, South Korea and Japan do provide support for the wider enabling environment for media freedom in their ODA spending, which is not measured by this Index.
Just 0.16% of ODA was allocated to media development in 2023 among all 30 states in the Index. Thirteen countries awarded less than 0.1%, including – Latvia (9th), Greece (=21st) and Slovenia (=29th) – which reported giving 0%.
New Zealand (=24th) was the only country not to be a member of any of the three qualifying multilateral initiatives in 2024.
Although the United States is ranked 12th on the IMFS, this does not reflect the drastic cuts the country made to international media development spending in early 2025, estimated to be at least $150 million. This is due to the lag in reporting.
