Standardized Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index (2002-2026)
Source:R/data.R
rwb_standardized.RdA comprehensive dataset of press freedom indicators from Reporters Without Borders (RSF: Reporters Sans Frontieres, the organization's French name and legal identity; RWB: Reporters Without Borders, its common English name – used for the `rwb_` prefix throughout this package), standardized and cleaned by the pressfreedom.data package pipeline.
Format
A data frame with 4,192 rows and 20 columns:
- year_n
Numeric year (2002-2026, excluding 2011)
- iso
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code
- country_en
Standardized country name in English
- score
Press freedom score (0-100; higher = more free). Comparable only within periods.
- rank
Rank within the year (1 = most free)
- political_context
Sub-index: Political context (if available)
- rank_pol
Rank within political context (if available)
- economic_context
Sub-index: Economic context (if available)
- rank_eco
Rank within economic context (if available)
- legal_context
Sub-index: Legal context (if available)
- rank_leg
Rank within legal context (if available)
- social_context
Sub-index: Social context (if available)
- rank_soc
Rank within social context (if available)
- safety
Sub-index: Safety (if available)
- rank_saf
Rank within safety (if available)
- zone
Geographic zone assigned by RSF
- rank_n_1
Previous year's rank (year_n - 1)
- rank_evolution
Change in rank from previous year
- score_n_1
Previous year's score (year_n - 1)
- score_evolution
Change in score from previous year
Details
## Data Cleaning Pipeline
This dataset is the output of a comprehensive 4-phase data pipeline implemented in the pressfreedom.data package:
- **Phase A (Download):** Raw CSV files from RSF website - **Phase B (Normalize):** Column names and data types standardized across periods - **Phase C (Combine):** All periods merged into unified structure - **Phase D (Standardize):** Country names consolidated, ISO codes assigned, duplicates resolved
## Important Notes
**Audit Trail:** The full audit trail (including `country_name_original` and `consolidation_flag` columns) is preserved in the source RDS file (`data/processed/rwb_standardized.rds`) within the pressfreedom.data package. This exported dataset contains only the 20 core columns for analysis.
**Score Comparability:** Scores are only comparable within their respective periods: - **Period 1 (2002-2012):** Non-comparable scores; use ranks for trends - **Period 2 (2013-2021):** Comparable scores (0-100 scale) - **Period 3 (2022-2026):** New methodology; different dimensions tracked
**Missing Data:** Sub-indices (political, economic, legal, social, safety contexts) are only available in Period 3 (2022-2026). Periods 1-2 have NA values for these columns.
**Cyprus:** Tracked as two separate entities: - "Cyprus" (ISO: CYP) - Republic of Cyprus - "Northern Cyprus" (ISO: CXX) - Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Examples
# Load the dataset
data(rwb_standardized)
# Basic summary
head(rwb_standardized)
#> # A tibble: 6 × 20
#> year_n iso score rank political_context rank_pol economic_context rank_eco
#> <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1 2002 AFG 35.5 104 NA NA NA NA
#> 2 2002 DZA 31 95 NA NA NA NA
#> 3 2002 AGO 30.2 93 NA NA NA NA
#> 4 2002 ARG 12 42 NA NA NA NA
#> 5 2002 AUS 3.5 12 NA NA NA NA
#> 6 2002 AUT 7.5 27 NA NA NA NA
#> # ℹ 12 more variables: legal_context <dbl>, rank_leg <dbl>,
#> # social_context <dbl>, rank_soc <dbl>, safety <dbl>, rank_saf <dbl>,
#> # zone <chr>, rank_n_1 <dbl>, rank_evolution <dbl>, score_n_1 <dbl>,
#> # score_evolution <dbl>, country_en <chr>
# Countries included
length(unique(rwb_standardized$country_en))
#> [1] 184
# Years covered
range(rwb_standardized$year_n)
#> [1] 2002 2026