Mongolia ranked 54th in PFI 2015

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Mongolia is the 54th in the World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) for 2015, which was released on Thursday by the Reporters Without Borders international NGO. It ranks the performance of 180 countries according to a range of criteria that include media pluralism and independence, respect for the safety and freedom of journalists, and the legislative, institutional and infrastructural environment in which the media operate. Mongolia's index rose by 34 places against the previous year with a score of 25.25 points, and it was the Index’s biggest jump for this year. It had few violations in 2014 in Mongolia, while the benefits of legislation on access to information began to be seen. Problems remain, however, including on the legislative front, but there has been a clear improvement, the WPFI website says. Top of the list, as so often, are three Scandinavian countries: Finland, which has been in first place for five years in succession, followed by Norway and Denmark. At the other end of the scale, Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea, in last place, were the worst performers. France is ranked 38th (up one place), the United States 49th (down three places), Japan 61st (down two places), Brazil 99 (up 12 places), Russia 152 (down four places), Iran 173rd (unchanged) and China 176th (down one place).