The local publishing sector has seen a 28.4 per cent drop in publishing employment including editors, journalists and writers, marking the largest drop in the EU, Eurostat said on Monday.

The figures don’t specify exactly how many editors, journalists, or writers were affected.

Following Cyprus, Portugal ranked second at 27.4 per cent and Slovenia set the third place at 23.4 per cent.

In other countries, the number of people employed in the publishing sector increased significantly with Luxembourg leading the rank at 67.5 per cent, followed by Latvia at 43.1 per cent and Lithuania at 22.9 per cent.

Press freedom in Cyprus has sharply declined over the past year, with the country now ranked 77th out of 180 in the most recent Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for the year 2025.

Having dropped 12 places from 65th in 2024, Cyprus now ranks below countries such as Congo and Senegal, both known for their challenging conditions for journalists. Nonetheless, it continues to place above Greece, at 89th, and Turkey, at 159th.

Despite mirroring Cyprus in the scale of publishing sector job losses, Portugal, at rank eight, was listed significantly higher than Cyprus in the RSF World Press Freedom Index 2025. Slovenia also outperformed Cyprus, rising ten places to reach 33rd.

Employment data in the publishing sector offers only limited explanatory power due to the absence of a detailed breakdown by profession.