Bulgaria, together with East Timor and India, has been ranked 77th out of 196 countries in Freedom House's media freedom index, which is the worst result for an EU country.

The status of the Balkan country's media is considered to be "partly free", which makes it the only EU country, besides Italy, in which the press is not labeled as "free".

The number of people worldwide with access to free and independent media declined to its lowest level in over a decade, according the Freedom House study released Monday and dedicated to Tuesday – the global press freedom day.

The report, Freedom of the Press 2011: A Global Survey of Media Independence, found that a number of key countries—including Egypt, Honduras, Hungary, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and Ukraine—experienced significant declines, producing a global landscape in which only one in six people live in countries with a press that is designated Free.

The overall index is topped by Finland, followed by Norway and Sweden.

In October, Bulgaria also was ranked last among the EU 27 (70th, together with Greece), according to a similar index developed by Reporters Without Borders.

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