Freedom of expression during each president's tenure
Every president since 1991, ranked by how the freedom of expression changed from their first day in office. Politare shows what happened during a tenure; it does not claim the office-holder caused it.
| # | President | In office | Total | Per year | Chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UP Ellen Johnson Sirleaf | 16 Jan 2006 – 22 Jan 2018 | +3.4 points 2005 → 2017 | +0.3 points/yr | |
| 2 | NPP Charles Taylor | 2 Aug 1997 – 11 Aug 2003 | +2.3 points 1997 → 2003 | +0.4 points/yr | |
| 3 | CDC George Weah | 22 Jan 2018 – 22 Jan 2024 | −2.8 points 2017 → 2023 | −0.5 points/yr |
Sorted by total, highest first. Every row is indexed to the last count complete before the first day in office ("from" marks a start that had to move because that count had no data, or because the period cut it); Levels are per cent changes, rates are differences in points; "per year" compounds levels and divides rates. Tenures with under 12 months, or under three observations, are left out. points, 0 to 100, V-Dem's 0 to 1 index times 100 · V-Dem Institute, V-Dem dataset v16 (v2x_freexp_altinf): the freedom of expression and alternative sources of information index, the press, academic and private speech and the media's independence, as V-Dem's country experts rate them, with V-Dem's confidence interval; the 0 to 1 index times 100 · Liberia data · as of Jun 2026.