Deadliest Countries for Journalists

Updated July 10, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Each year, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) publishes a list of journalists killed while on assignment. The following list does not include those who were killed in accidents, such as car or plane crashes, unless the accident was caused by hostile action. It also does not include deaths of journalists whose motives were unconfirmed; this list only includes those who we can establish were killed because of their journalism. 

Journalist deaths declined in 2019 from prior years, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq. Only four countries saw more than a single death, and only 25 journalists died in total. These deaths are still tragic and unnecessary, but their reduced number perhaps bodes well for the future. There have been 1,363 journalists killed since 1992.