EIU Democracy Index 2019: Bangladesh moves 8 notches up

Bangladesh has advanced eight notches on the latest Democracy Index 2019 of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis division of The Economist Group.

Bangladesh has been ranked 80th with an overall score of 5.88 on a scale of 10, with scores of 7.83 in electoral process and pluralism category, 6.07 in functioning of government, 6.11 in political participation, 4.38 in political culture, and 5.00 in civil liberties.

In the EIU Democracy Index 2018, Bangladesh ranked 88th with an overall score of 5.57, according to the EIU report.

According to the report, the average global score for democracy fell from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44 in 2019, which is the worst average global score since the index was first produced in 2006.

The 2019 result is even worse than that recorded in 2010, in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis, when the average global score fell to 5.46, the report read.

According to the EIU the main manifestations of the global decline in the average score in 2019 are:

-- an increasing emphasis on elite/expert governance rather than popular participatory democracy

-- a growing influence of unelected, unaccountable institutions and expert bodies

-- the removal of substantive issues of national importance from the political arena to be decided by politicians, experts or supranational bodies behind closed doors

-- a widening gap between political elites and parties on the one hand and national electorates on the other

-- a decline in civil liberties, including media freedom and freedom of speech

The report also observed that global attitudes towards democracy have in recent years revealed a disjuncture between still-high levels of public support for democracy across the globe and deep popular disappointment with the functioning of democracy and systems of political representation.

According to the index, one category which has recorded a steady and significant upward trajectory is political participation, for which the average global score has risen from 4.59 in 2008 to 5.28 in 2019.

With the exception of North America, whose average score for political participation fell from 7.78 in 2011 to 7.50 in 2019, every region has recorded an improvement in this category over the same time period.

In the 2019 index, Norway retained its top position and North Korea remained at the bottom of the list.