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Data gathered from countries across the globe revealed that 54 journalists were killed worldwide in 2024. Journalism may not be considered the most dangerous profession in the world, but the risks for those entering into certain segments of the industry are clear. After a peak in 2012, when 147 journalists were killed, the numbers thankfully declined, with 2021 recording the lowest number of journalist deaths since 2003.

The perils of being a journalist: global insights

Journalist death statistics by region show that six journalist killings occurred in Iraq in 2020 along with four in Pakistan and four in India, some of which were sadly particularly brutal.

The most dangerous country in the world for journalists is Mexico, where eight journalists were killed in 2020. Journalists in Mexico are frequently placed under surveillance, threatened, and fatally punished for attempting to expose or publicize political corruption, and despite the country being war-free, an average of eight to ten journalists are murdered in the country each year.

Journalists arrested and imprisoned

Journalists are at risk of being captured and detained as punishment for criticizing a political regime or a religious ideology, persecuted for insulting those in positions of power, hunted down for images they published, and shot dead simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The yearly number of imprisoned journalists regularly surpasses 250 worldwide, and arrests and kidnappings are also common. Between 2014 and 2019, almost 1,500 journalists were arrested and close to 400 were kidnapped, highlighting the harsh reality for many media workers around the world.