According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF)calculations, which are based primarily on its yearly round-ups, 1,668 journalists have been killed globally in the last two decades (2003-2022) as a result of murders, contract killings, ambushes, deaths in combat zones, and fatal injuries.
This gives an average of more than 80 journalists killed every year, according to Paris-based RSF.
RSF secretary-general, Christophe Deloire stated "Behind the figures, there are the faces, personalities, talent and commitment of those who have paid with their lives for their information gathering, their search for the truth and their passion for journalism."
He added "In each of its annual round-ups, RSF has continued to document the unjustifiable violence that has specifically targeted media workers. This year's end is an appropriate time to pay tribute to them and to appeal for full respect for the safety of journalists wherever they work and bear witness to the world's realities."
The annual death toll peaked in 2012 and 2013 with 144 and 142 journalists killed, respectively. These peaks, due in large measure to the war in, were followed by a gradual fall and then historically low figures from 2019 onwards.
In 2022, several journalists killed in connection with their work was 58, according to RSF's Press Freedom Barometer on December 28, which was the highest in the past four years and was 13.7 per cent higher than in 2021.
During the past two decades, 80 per cent of media fatalities have occurred in 15 countries.
The two countries with the highest death tolls are Iraq and Syria, with a combined total of 578 journalists killed in the past 20 years, or more than a third of global total.