This map shows the countries where journalists are free to report the news – and the places in which the media is most strictly controlled.

The nations with the least press freedom are Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan.

The UK is rated as having a “satisfactory situation” – worse than Germany, Ireland and Costa Rica which are all described as having a “good situation”.

The map, created for the Independent by statistics agency Statista, uses data from the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2016 World Press Freedom Index, which assessed how much freedom the media holds in 180 countries.

Press freedom around the world has fallen by nearly four per cent since last year, according to the report's measurements.

The secretary-general of RSF, Christophe Deloire, wrote in a statement that many world leaders are “developing a form of paranoia about legitimate journalism”, resulting in clampdowns on debate and independent reporting.

The country with the highest degree of press freedom is Finland, followed by the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand, which are all classed as having a "good situation" when it comes to reporting.

While Europe is still by far the continent with the highest degree of press freedom – followed by Africa, which overtook the Americas for the first time this year – it is far from perfect and the situation is worsening, according to RSF.

World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners Show all 15 1 /15 World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'Tough Times for Orangutans' by Tim Laman (USA): Nature, 1st Prize Stories A Sumatran orangutan threatens another nearby male in the Batang Toru Forest, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. The lives of wild orangutans are brought to light. Threats to these orangutans from fires, the illegal animal trade and loss of habitat due to deforestation have resulted in many orphan orangutans ending up at rehabilitation centers © Tim Laman/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'Storm Front on Bondi Beach' by Rohan Kelly (Australia): Nature, 1st Prize Singles A massive 'cloud tsunami' looms over Sydney as a sunbather reads, oblivious to the approaching cloud on Bondi Beach © Rohan Kelly/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'Exposure' by Kazuma Obara (Japan): People, 1st Prize Stories "My mother said that it was a typically quiet day, warm and windy. She and my father opened the window and they felt completely safe on the day of the explosion, the 26th of April 1986." The world’s worst nuclear accident happened on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Just 5 months after the disaster, a girl was born in Kiev just 100 km south from Chernobyl. The wind included a great amount of radioactive elements, and the girl became one of the victims of the tragedy. This series of pictures represent the last 30 years of the life of that invisible girl. All pictures taken on old Ukrainian color negative films, which were found in the city of Pripyat, located 5 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant © Kazuma Obara/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'Waiting to Register' by Matic Zorman (Slovenia): People, 1st Prize Singles A child is covered with a raincoat while she waits in line to register at a refugee camp in Preševo, Serbia © Matic Zorman/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'Hope for a New Life' by Warren Richardson (Australia): Spot News, 1st Prize Singles, World Press Photo of the Year A man passes a baby through the fence at the Hungarian-Serbian border in Röszke, Hungary © Warren Richardson/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners ' Aftermath of Airstrikes in Syria' by Sameer Al-Doumy (Syria): Spot News, 1st Prize Stories Smoke billows from a building early on October 30, 2015, following reported shelling by Syrian government forces in the rebel-controlled area of Douma, east of Damascus. AFP PHOTO / SAMEER AL-DOUMY © Sameer Al-Doumy/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'Europe's Refugee Crisis' by Sergey Ponomarev (Russia): General News, 1st Prize Stories Refugees arrive by boat near the village of Skala on Lesbos, Greece © Sergey Ponomarev/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'IS Fighter Treated at Kurdish Hospital' by Mauricio Lima (Brazil): General News, 1st Prize Singles A doctor rubs ointment on the burns of Jacob, a 16-year-old Islamic State fighter, in front of a poster of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, at a Y.P.G. hospital compound on the outskirts of Hasaka, Syria © Mauricio Lima/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'An Antarctic Advantage' by Daniel Berehulak (Australia): Daily Life, 1st Prize Stories © Daniel Berehulak/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'China's Coal Addiction' by Kevin Frayer (Canada): Daily Life, 1st Prize Singles hinese men pull a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China. A history of heavy dependence on burning coal for energy has made China the source of nearly a third of the world's total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the toxic pollutants widely cited by scientists and environmentalists as the primary cause of global warming © Kevin Frayer/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'Talibes, Modern-day Slaves' by Mário Cruz (Portugal): Contemporary Issues, 1st Prize Stories Abdoulaye, 15, is a talibe imprisoned in a room with security bars to keep him from running away. Series portraying the plight of Talibes, boys who live at Islamic schools known as Daaras in Senegal. Under the pretext of receiving a Quranic education, they are forced to beg in the streets while their religious guardians, or Marabout, collect their daily earnings. They often live in squalor and are abused and beaten © Mário Cruz/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'Haze in China' by Zhang Lei (China): Contemporary Issues, 1st Prize Singles A city in northern China shrouded in haze, Tianjin, China © Zhang Lei/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'Vetluga's Hockey' by Vladimir Pesnya (Russia): Sports, 1st Prize Stories Evgeny Solovyov, head coach of HC Vetluga preparing the stadium for the match. Players of an amateur hockey team in provincial Russia before, during and after a game in the regional championship in Vetluga, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia © Vladimir Pesnya/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'FIS World Championships' by Christian Walgram (Austria): Sports, 1st Prize Singles Czech Republic's Ondrej Bank crashes during the downhill race of the Alpine Combined at the FIS World Championships in Beaver Creek, Colorado, USA © Christian Walgram/World Press Photo World Press Photo Competition 2016 winners 'Sexual Assault in America's Military' by Mary F. Calvert (USA): Long-Term Projects, 1st Prize Stories US Army Spc. Natasha Schuette, 21, was pressured not to report being assaulted by her drill sergeant during basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Though she was hazed by her assailant’s fellow drill instructors, she refused to back down and Staff Sgt. Louis Corral is now serving four years in prison for assaulting her and four other female trainees. The US Army rewarded Natasha for her courage to report her assault and the Sexual Harassment/ Assault Response & Prevention office distributed a training video featuring her story. She is now stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Series portraying women who have been raped or sexually assaulted during their service with the US Armed Forces. At the moment, only one out of ten reported sexual violence cases goes to trial and most military rape survivors are forced out of service. Victims suffer from the effects of Military Sexual Trauma, (MST), which include depression, substance abuse, paranoia and feelings of isolation © Mary F. Calvert/World Press Photo

“The continent that respects media freedom most seemed to be on a downhill course,” RSF said in its report.

“Counter-espionage and counter-terrorist measures were misused. Laws were passed allowing mass surveillance. Conflicts of interest increased. Authorities tightened their grip on state media and sometimes privately owned media as well,” it said.

Poland has dropped 29 places in the rankings since 2015, despite still being described as “satisfactory”.

Earlier this year, the Polish government attracted criticism when it enacted a new law enabling the state to appoint management positions in public radio and television.

China is among the countries listed as having a "very serious situation" for press freedom.

Censorship and controls on press freedom in China are said to be tightening since president Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.

French journalist Ursula Gauthier was expelled from Beijing in December, after publishing an article that the government said “supported terrorism”.

Challenges to press freedom in the UK include a lack of laws guaranteeing press freedom, as well as pressure from the government following the publication of certain stories such as Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing allegations, according to a 2014 report by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.