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 | N Sharif Sheikh Ahmed | 31 Jan 2009 – 16 Sep 2012 | +11.6 points 2008 → 2012 | +2.9 points/yr | |
| 2 | N Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed | 14 Oct 2004 – 31 Jan 2009 | +5.6 points 2004 → 2008 | +1.4 points/yr | |
| 3 | Tayo Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo | 16 Feb 2017 – 23 May 2022 | +5.0 points 2016 → 2021 | +1.0 points/yr | |
| 4 | JSP Hassan Sheikh Mohamud | 23 May 2022 – now | +4.8 points 2021 → 2025 | +1.2 points/yr | |
| 5 | N Abdiqasim Salad Hassan | 27 Aug 2000 – 14 Oct 2004 | −2.4 points 2000 → 2004 | −0.6 points/yr | |
| 6 | PDP Hassan Sheikh Mohamud | 16 Sep 2012 – 16 Feb 2017 | −6.0 points 2012 → 2016 | −1.5 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 · Somalia data · as of Jul 2026.