The number of BBC World Service journalists working in exile is estimated to have nearly doubled, to 310, since 2020.

The figures, released for the first time ahead of World Press Freedom Day, reflect press crackdowns in Russia, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia.

Journalists from other countries, including Iran, have lived abroad for more than a decade.

Many face jail sentences, death threats and harassment, both on and offline.

"The only way they can carry on reporting is to be forced out of their homes," says the director of the BBC World Service, Liliane Landor. "The increase we're seeing in the numbers of journalists in exile is extremely concerning for press freedom."

When the Taliban took control in Afghanistan in August 2021, the BBC pulled most of its team out of the country. Female staff were no longer allowed to work, while their male colleagues also faced threats.

In 2022, after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia introduced a new censorship law, meaning anyone criticising the war could be prosecuted. "I'm calling a war, a war, and for that I could be easily jailed," says Nina Nazarova, a correspondent for BBC Russian, which has moved its Moscow team to Latvia.

In April this year, Nina's colleague, BBC Russian correspondent Ilya Barabanov, was labelled a "foreign agent", accused of "spreading false information" and opposing the war. He and the BBC reject this and are disputing it in court.

Journalists in Myanmar and Ethiopia have also seen increased pressure, which has left them unable to report freely.

Jodie Ginsberg, from the Committee to Protect Journalists, says the number of exiled journalists it offers financial and legal support to has increased by 225% in the past three years.

"We've got near record number of journalists in jail, the killing of journalists has reached a high not seen since 2015," she adds.

Regimes - such as Russia, Iran and Saud Arabia - are becoming increasingly desperate to control the narrative inside and outside their countries, she says.