Democracy in decline in Bangladesh
The democratic situation has deteriorated in Bangladesh. The country saw a decline in liberal democracy and electoral democracy, according to Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute of Sweden.
The report titled ‘Defiance in the face of autocratisation’ was published on Thursday.
V-Dem Institute of Gothenburg University of Sweden has been publishing the democracy report for the last seven years.
Bangladesh has been ranked 147th among 179 countries in Liberal Democracy Index (LDI) scoring 0.11 which is 0.02 less than the previous year.
Bangladesh has been ranked 131rd in Electoral Democracy Index (EDI) with a score of 0.28. The score is 0.03 less than the previous year.
Bangladesh has been ranked 155th In Liberal Component Index (LCI), 165th in Egalitarian Component Index, 142nd in Participatory Component Index and 145th in Deliberative Component Index.
The report placed Bangladesh in ‘Electoral Autocracies’ category along with 55 other countries including India, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey. Bangladesh was placed in the same category in the previous report.
Democratic situation has worsened in Bangladesh’s neighbor India too. India’s position is 97 in liberal democracy index and 108 in electoral democracy index.
33 countries including Iran, China, Myanmar and North Korea have been placed in ‘Closed Autocracies’ category. 32 countries were placed in Liberal Democracies category and 58 in Electoral Democracies category.
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Estonia and New Zealand are placed in the top five positions while North Korea is placed at the bottom.
The report mentioned that a total 72 per cent of the population of the world-- 5.7 billion people – live under autocratic regimes in 2022, which was 48 per cent in 2012. Only 13 per cent population of the world lives in liberal democracies.
V-Dem report found out that freedom of expression is deteriorating in 35 countries in 2022, ten years ago it was only 7 countries, government censorship of the media is worsening in 47 countries over last ten years and government repression of civil society organisations is worsening in 37 countries.