Bangladesh has slipped two notches to rank at 75 in the Democracy Index 2023 of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). In the 2022 index, Bangladesh was placed at 73 among 167 countries.
The democracy index rates the state of democracy in countries across the globe based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.
With an overall score of 5.87 on a scale of 10, Bangladesh remains classified as a "hybrid regime," according to the annual index released on Thursday.
According to the EIU, "hybrid regimes" are those countries where "elections have substantial irregularities that often prevent them from being both free and fair."
The last year was "an inauspicious year for democracy," with the average global score falling to its lowest level since the index began in 2006, reads the report.
The report said eight of the ten most populous countries in the world -- Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, and the US – have held or will hold elections in 2024. "In half of these, elections are neither free nor fair, and many other prerequisites of democracy, such as freedom of speech and association, are absent," as stated in the report.
"Unsurprisingly, elections in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Russia -- where opposition forces are subject to state repression -- will not bring regime change or more democracy," the report added.
The index categorizes countries based on its findings into 4 categories: "full democracy," "flawed democracy," "hybrid regime," or "authoritarian regime."
The countries are judged based on their electoral process and pluralism in politics, how their government functions, political participation, political culture, and the extent of civil liberties.
"South Asia and Southeast Asia already had the lowest scores of all the continent's sub-regions, and setbacks in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand mean that the two regions have fallen even further behind," said the index.
Pakistan has nosedived in the index and is now being considered an authoritarian regime. Both Bhutan and Nepal's scores are lower than that of Bangladesh, while Sri Lanka scored higher and is considered a flawed democracy.
Afghanistan ranked the worst, being classified as the worst authoritarian regime in the world, while Myanmar is the second worst. Myanmar is worse than North Korea.
The Nordic countries – Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark – continued to dominate the Democracy Index rankings, taking five of the top six spots, with New Zealand claiming the second place.
