Malta has ranked among the world’s top 25 countries for academic freedom, recording a score of 0.874 in the latest available 2025 data.
The ranking places Malta 25th among 174 countries and territories with available scores, just behind Denmark on 0.875 and ahead of Spain on 0.869 and Cabo Verde on 0.866.
For Malta, the result points to a comparatively high level of freedom for academics and institutions to research, teach and exchange ideas.
What does academic freedom actually measure?
The Academic Freedom Index is designed to assess academic freedom in practice rather than simply looking at a country’s education system or the quality of its universities.
The wider Academic Freedom Index initiative involves Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the V-Dem Institute.
It assesses five main areas: freedom to research and teach, freedom of academic exchange and dissemination, institutional autonomy, campus integrity, and freedom of academic and cultural expression.
A score closer to 1 represents a higher estimated level of academic freedom.
Malta’s 0.874 therefore puts it towards the upper end internationally — although small differences between countries should not necessarily be interpreted as significant differences in actual academic freedom.
Malta also gets full marks from Freedom House
Malta also performs strongly in a separate international assessment by Freedom House.
In its Freedom in the World 2025 report, Freedom House awarded Malta the maximum 4 out of 4 points for the question: “Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination?”
That individual score should not be confused with Malta’s overall result in the same report.
Malta received an overall 87 out of 100, based on a much broader assessment covering political rights and civil liberties, including elections, freedom of expression, the rule of law and personal autonomy.
The two assessments also use different methodologies and should not be treated as directly interchangeable.
What they do show is that Malta performs strongly when academic freedom itself is assessed internationally, with the latest ranking placing the country within the global top 25.
