Bangladesh has improved its ranking by two steps in the latest 'Democracy Index for 2022' released by London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The EIU released the index on Thursday (Bangladesh time Friday).

The 'Democracy Index for 2022' has placed Bangladesh at the 73rd position, up from the last year's 75th position, among 167 countries and regions of the world.

Bangladesh scored 5.99 on a scale of 10 in 2022 which was the same in 2021 and 2020.

The countries and regions on the index have been divided into four categories. These are 'Full Democracy', 'Flawed Democracy,' 'Hybrid Regime' and 'Authoritarian Regime.'

This year, 24 countries have been placed under 'Full Democracy,' 48 countries under 'Flawed Democracy', 36 countries under 'Hybrid Regime,' and 59 countries under 'Authoritarian Regime.'

With the score of 5.99, Bangladesh has been placed among the 'Hybrid Regime'. Other countries in this cetagory are Bhutan (84th), Ukraine (87th), Uganda (99th), Nepal (101st) and Pakistan (107th).

According to the EIU definition, countries falling in the 'Hybrid Regime' display substantial irregularities preventing free and fair elections. In such countries the rule of law is weak, level of corruption is high, civil society is weak and typically, there is harassment of and pressure on journalists, and the judiciary is not independent.

Bangladesh improved its score for civil liberties from 4.71 in 2020 to 5.29 in 2021 but its score on political participation declined from 6.11 to 5.56. However, its score on parameters  of electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government and democratic plural culture remained unchanged from last year.

Out of 167 countries included in the survey by EIU, only 24 countries have been put under the category of 'Full Democracy' while 48 are included in the 'Flawed Democracy' category, 36 countries are counted among 'Hybrid Democracy'  and 59 are 'Authoritarian Governments'.

Norway is ranked at the top of the 'Full Democracy' index followed by New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden and Finland.

Afghanistan (167th) occupies the bottom place in the index followed by Myanmar (166th), North Korea (165th), Central African Republic (164th), Syria (163rd), China (156th) Yemen (155th), Iran (154th), Saudia Arabia (150th) and Russia (146th).

The EIU Democracy Index is based on five categories namely electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture. The ranking is decided based on 60 indicators grouped into these five categories on a scale of 1-10.