Slowly but surely Singapore is moving up the global press freedom chart, advancing two places this year.
Singapore is ranked 151st out of 195 countries in the 2009 Freedom of the Press rankings by Freedom House.
Also ranked 151st are Gabon and Armenia.
This is the third year in a row Singapore has tied with Gabon. Both were ranked 153rd in 2008 and 154th in 2007.
Iraq, which was ranked 153rd last year with Singapore and Gabon, has now moved up to 148th.
- Three Southeast Asian nations are ranked lower than Singapore -- Brunei (163rd, up from 165th), Vietnam (178th, no change) and Burma (194th, unchanged).
- Malaysia has dropped from 141st last year to 143rd this year.
- Hong Kong is down from 67th from 75th.
- India has moved up from 77th to 76th.
- North Korea ranks last.
- China is 181st with Iran and Rwanda.
- Topping the list is Iceland, busted by the financial crisis. (Give me Singapore, which has good leadership and substantial reserves to weather the recession.)
- Also in the top 10 are Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Andorra, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
- New Zealand ranks 11th with Liechtenstein and Palau.
- America is 24th with the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
- Britain is 27th with Canada, Costa Rica, Barbados and St Kitts and Nevis.
- Japan is 33rd with Austria, Hungary, Belize and Micronesia.
- Australia is 38th with France, Cyprus, Malta and Dominica.
- Taiwan is 43rd with Latvia, Slovakia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Vanuatu.
- South Korea is 66th with South Africa, Namibia, Guyana and Solomon Islands.
