Mapped: These are the countries that have the freest and most restricted media

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Worldwide press freedom is at its worst in more than decade and only 14 per cent of the world's citizens lived in a country with a free press, a new report by Freedom House has shown.

The map above, using the US NGO's data from its 2015 Freedom of the Press report, shows readers the score of each country - nearly 200 in total. The lower the score, the greater the freedom of press.

It also provides for most countries where possible, the status: free (F), partly free (PF) or not free (NF). In this year's report based on analysis of last year, 63 countries were deemed free (32 per cent), 71 partly free (36 per cent) and 65 not free (32 per cent).

Three countries fared well: Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, and Ukraine moved from not free to partly free.

Mapped: The world's most open governments

The NGO said this year the rate of decline in press freedom "accelerated drastically" and the world's average score decreased by its largest drop last year.

Terrorism and murder in countries such as Syria and Iraq by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, continued economic pressures and state meddling is contributing to a worsening situation for the world's media and its citizens who often need and rely on journalists to present stories their governments, businesses, etc may not wish them to know.

More than 90 analysts together with members of Freedom House research team in New York prepared the ratings with consultants.

The numbers are decided on by asking 23 questions and 132 subquestions divided into three broad categories: the legal environment, the political environment, and the economic environment.

"For each methodology question, a lower number of points is allotted for a more free situation, while a higher number of points is allotted for a less free environment," Freedom House said.

Which countries restrict the press the most?

Freedom House said in the report that the 10 countries that are the "worst of the worst" either barely have any independent media or it is non-existent.

"Independent media are either nonexistent or barely able to operate, the press acts as a mouthpiece for the regime, citizens’ access to unbiased information is severely limited, and dissent is crushed through imprisonment, torture, and other forms of repression," the authors said.

Crimea made the list after its annexation early last year meant it was now subject to Russian press laws.

Which countries have the freest press?

Only European countries featured in the top ten freest countries for the media.

The UK scored 24, its highest average since 1994 when Freedom House first started these scores. Between 2001 and 2011, the UK was given scores of between 20 and 19.

National security laws was an "issue of concern" in the UK, Freedom House said, after the news of wide-ranging surveillance by the Government Communications Headquarters. The NGO also pointed out the raid on the Guardian in 2013.

The US has a freer media and scored 22 by the experts.

Jennifer Dunham, the report's project manager, said the US ranking was a reflection of the way journalists were treated covering the Ferguson protests after Michael Brown was shot dead, Associated Press reported.

Ms Dunham added: "[Another issue was] continuing issues we saw with journalists having trouble accessing information from the Obama administration, on and off the record."

Why has press freedom declined?

According to Freedom House, there are two main reasons why there has been a decline in press freedom: restrictive laws and the limitations and local journalists to report from an area.

In the introduction to the report, the report authors explained that 18 countries' scores declined including Greece, Iceland, Hong Kong, Serbia and South Africa.

This is the highest number of declines in seven years, Jennifer Dunham, Bret Nelson, and Elen Aghekyan said as they explained why:

The steepest declines worldwide relate to two factors: the passage and use of restrictive laws against the press—often on national security grounds—and the ability of local and foreign journalists to physically access and report freely from a given country, including protest sites and conflict areas.

Turkey is also another country which has seen a decline in press freedom over the years, Freedom House pointed out, which is not surprising following the arrests in December last year of journalists and the comments made by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president, against certain journalists.