V-Dem’s Academic Freedom Index ranks India among the world’s lowest, recording its weakest academic freedom since 1900.
The V-Dem (Varieties of Democracies) Academic Freedom Index reports that India’s academic freedom has declined to its lowest level since 1900, placing it among the bottom 10–20 countries globally, with a score assessed as even lower than during the 1975–77 Emergency period. The project assessed academic freedom across 179 countries and territories, covering the period from 1900 to 2025.
A detailed analysis of the data showed that India recorded an overall Academic Freedom Index (AFI) score of 0.14 in 2025 on a scale of 0 to 1, representing a decline of 0.269 points from its 2015 score. The report also noted a deterioration across all five indicators used to measure academic freedom. According to the report, Indian higher education institutions have witnessed a steady decline across all five parameters since 2013–14. While freedom to research and teach had previously reached its lowest level during the 1900–1950 period, 2025 marks India’s lowest-ever scores across every other indicator.
Source: V-Dem Academic Freedom Report
Reacting to the findings, Roxy Mathew Koll, a senior climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune, said the decline was a cause for concern. He said,
As a scientist and mentor, I find this concerning because questioning, independent research and the freedom to disagree are essential to science and national progress.”
India ranked below several conflict-affected countries, including Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The Czech Republic secured the top position, followed by Estonia, Belgium, Jamaica and Slovenia.
According to the report, around 50 countries witnessed a decline in academic freedom between 2015 and 2025, while only nine recorded improvements. Among the countries that performed worse than India on the index were China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Myanmar, reflecting a broader global decline in academic freedom.
Launched in 2019, the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) is a joint initiative of the V-Dem Institute (Sweden) and Germany’s Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), in partnership with the Scholars at Risk Network and the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi). Supported by the Volkswagen Foundation, it measures the de facto state of academic freedom across five indicators: freedom to research and teach, academic exchange and dissemination, institutional autonomy, campus integrity, and academic and cultural expression. The index is based on assessments by 2,357 country experts, standardised questionnaires, and a statistical model developed by the V-Dem project.
Bishakha Gogoi
Image credit: The Indian Express
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