BD ranks 92nd in Democracy Index; Lowest in a decade
Bangladesh’s score on the latest Democracy Index fell to its lowest in a decade in line with a global decline in pluralism and civil liberties, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Bangladesh ranks 92nd with an overall score of 5.43, way behind India that holds the 42nd spot on the Democracy Index 2017. Bangladesh ranked 84th among 167 countries with a score of 5.73 out of 10 on the 2016 index.
Less than 5 percent of the world's population lives in a "full democracy," according to the EIU report that ranked countries by how functional their political systems are.
The EIU report released on Wednesday says only countries with scores above 8 are categorised as "full" democracies.
The US was downgraded from a "full democracy" to a "flawed democracy" in the same study last year, which cited the "low esteem in which US voters hold their government, elected representatives, and political parties”.
In the 2017 Democracy Index, not a single region recorded an improvement in its average score compared with 2016. The average regional score for North America (Canada and the US) remained the same. All the other six regions experienced a regression, as signified by a decline in their regional average score.
In a reversal of recent trends, Asia and Australasia was the worst-performing region in 2017, according to the report.
Around one-third of the world’s population lives under authoritarian rule, with a large share being in China, according to the report.
The index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture.
This is the tenth edition of the Democracy Index, which began in 2006. It records how global democracy fared in 2017.
Norway once again tops the Democracy Index global ranking in 2017. The Nordics occupy the top three spots, with Iceland and Sweden taking second and third place.
