Bhutan ranks first, Nepal second in South Asia in press freedom

Nepal ranks second among the nine South Asian countries as far as press freedom in the region is concerned, as per the annual rankings released by the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders.

The World Press Freedom Index ranks 180 countries on indicators such as media independence, self-censorship, the rule of law, transparency and abuses.

This year's report ranks Nepal 105th behind Bhutan, which is ranked 94th in the world with a score of 30.73.

Nepal was ranked 105th last year as well, but its score of 32.62 is 0.09 point less than the previous year, which means press freedom has slightly improved in Nepal.

Among the other South Asian countries, India is ranked 133rd with a score of 43.17, Afghanistan 120th (37.75), Pakistan 147th (48.52), Sri Lanka 141st (44.96), Maldives 112th (34.17), Myanmar 143rd (45.48) and Bangladesh 144th (45.94) respectively.

Among the lowest ranked countries were Syria at 177th place out of 180, just below China (176th) but above North Korea (179th) and last placed Eritrea.

While Europe remained the region with the most press freedom, Reporters Without Borders warned that the misuse of counter-terrorist and counter-espionage measures and conflicts of interest had put it on "a downhill course".

In Europe, the threats to journalists were linked to rising nationalism which saw death threats in Sweden, which dropped three places to 8th.