Hungary: press freedom index 2023

Hungary's press freedom index deteriorated over the past 10 years, before a slight increase in 2023, which was still lower than the score of 2021. The index presents an overview of the plurality and independence of the media and how safe it is for journalists to do their job, with lower scores indicating a better situation for the press and higher scores a worse one. During this period, Hungary's government limited the space of the independent media and took closer control of public broadcasting.

Hungarians' view on media independence

Aligning with the deterioration of Hungary’s press freedom, the concern of Hungarians regarding media neutrality has grown in the past seven years. In 2023, about 75 percent of the respondents agreed that the media was biased, and the government was considered the biggest threat to media freedom. In comparison, about 62 percent of participants viewed the media as one-sided in 2016.

European press freedom index ranking

In 2023, Hungary’s press freedom index also ranked among the lowest-scoring European countries with 62 points, only preceding Russia, Greece, Serbia, Malta, and Ukraine. Countries, such as Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, and Lithuania, ranked the highest, scoring between 85 and 95 points.

Press freedom index in Hungary from 2013 to 2023

Characteristic	Index score (0-100)
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-

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Release date

2023

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Region

Hungary

Survey time period

2013 to 2023

Supplementary notes

According to the source, the Index ranks 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists. It is a snapshot of the media freedom situation based on an evaluation of pluralism, independence of the media, quality of legislative framework and safety of journalists in each country and region. It does not rank public policies even if governments obviously have a major impact on their country’s ranking. Nor is it an indicator of the quality of journalism in each country or region.
* The countries surveyed were scored between 0 and 100, with 100 being the best possible result and 0 the worst, as follows:

From 0 to 40 points: very serious situation
From 40 to 55 points: difficult situation
From 55 to 70 points: problematic situation
From 70 to 85 points: satisfactory situation
From 85 to 100 points: good situation

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