Bangladesh slides 10-notch in World Press Freedom Index

Bangladesh has been ranked at 162 among 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, 2022. The country was positioned at 152 in the index last year.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published the latest report on Tuesday. Bangladesh has scored 36.63. In 2021, Bangladesh scored 50.29 while in 2020 the country was placed at 151.

Norway grabbed the top position in the index with a score of 92.65. The country is followed by Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Costa Rica, Lithuania and Lichtenstein.

Among the South Asian countries, only Myanmar is placed below Bangladesh in the World Press Freedom Index, 2022. India is at 150th position, while Pakistan 157th, Sri Lanka 146th, Afghanistan 156th, Nepal 76th, Maldives 87th, and Bhutan is placed at 33rd position.

Myanmar, which is now under military rule, is placed at 176th position. The country was ranked at 140 last year.

Except Bhutan and Nepal, all other South Asian countries have slid in the press freedom index. India has fallen by 8 notches, Pakistan 17, Sri Lanka 19, Afghanistan 34 and Maldives has fallen by 15 notches.

Bhutan improved the most in the region in terms of press freedom as the country has advanced by 32 steps while Nepal has advanced 30 steps.

Reporters Without Borders has been publishing the World Press Freedom Index since 2002 to assess the state of journalism in different countries. Bangladesh has been featuring in the report since 2013.

The RSF report said one journalist has been killed and three are behind bars in Bangladesh as of now in 2022.

As per the report, the worst country for press freedom is North Korea. The country has been ranked at 180th position with a score of 13.92. Second worst country is Eritrea, third is Iran, fourth Turkmenistan, fifth Myanmar, sixth China, seventh Vietnam, eighth Cuba, ninth Iraq and 10th ranked country is Syria.

Russia was ranked at 155th position with 38.82 score.