Country Foundations

Freedom of expression

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 19. In the US Constitution: 1st Amendment.

Constitutions declaring it
148 / 158
US declares it
100%
US practices it
83%

Does declaring it change anything?

Distribution of practiced scores, split by whether the constitution declares the right. If the two distributions look alike, the words on the page are not doing much work on their own.

Constitutions that declare it (148)
0100
Constitutions that are silent (10)
0100

Mean practiced score: 60% where declared, versus 61% where silent.

What the text actually says

Passages tagged with this topic, from the Constitute Project.

United States
Amendment I

Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

South Africa

Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes- freedom of the press and other media; freedom to receive or impart information or ideas; freedom of artistic creativity; and academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.

The right in subsection (1) does not extend to- propaganda for war; incitement of imminent violence; or advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and that constitutes incitement to cause harm.

Country by country

CountryDeclaredPracticed
Afghanistan100%5%
Albania100%66%
Algeria100%43%
Angola100%50%
Argentina100%93%
Armenia100%64%
Azerbaijan100%28%
Bahrain100%22%
Bangladesh100%34%
Barbados100%78%
Belarus100%13%
Belgium100%96%
Benin100%62%
Bhutan100%57%
Bolivia100%67%
Bosnia and Herzegovina100%57%
Botswana100%72%
Brazil100%85%
Bulgaria100%67%
Burma/Myanmar100%7%
Cambodia100%23%
Cameroon100%58%
Canada100%93%
Cape Verde100%75%
Central African Republic100%62%
Chad100%45%
Chile100%83%
China100%7%
Colombia100%77%
Comoros100%46%
Costa Rica100%78%
Croatia100%69%
Cuba100%10%
Cyprus100%67%
Democratic Republic of the Congo100%68%
Denmark100%97%
Djibouti100%33%
Dominican Republic100%83%
Ecuador100%72%
Egypt100%23%
El Salvador100%45%
Equatorial Guinea100%25%
Eritrea100%4%
Estonia100%92%
Eswatini100%18%
Ethiopia100%31%
Fiji100%64%
Finland100%92%
Gabon100%66%
Georgia100%84%
Ghana100%80%
Greece100%74%
Guatemala100%65%
Guinea100%57%
Guinea-Bissau100%61%
Guyana100%69%
Haiti100%69%
Honduras100%82%
Hungary100%45%
Iceland100%78%