Bangladesh has slipped two notches on the World Press Freedom Index 2024, prepared by Reporters Without Borders, also known as Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF).
The country was ranked 165th among 180 nations in the list published on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day on Friday.
Last year, Bangladesh ranked the 163rd, out of 180 countries, and in 2022 it was in the 162nd position.
The latest index shows that Bangladesh is ahead of Afghanistan only among the South Asian countries, while it is lagging behind Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan, Pakistan and India.
The World Press Freedom Index 2024 gives Bangladesh a score of 27.64, significantly lower than the previous year’s score of 35.31.
In South Asia, Nepal has taken the lead in press freedom, securing the 74th position, Maldives at the 106th position, Bhutan at the 147th, Sri Lanka at the 150th, Pakistan at 152nd, and India at the 161st place globally.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan has now fallen to the bottom of the regional rankings, dropping 26 places to the 178th position.
RSF comes out with a global ranking of press freedom every year.
RSF is an international NGO whose self-proclaimed aim is to defend and promote media freedom.
Headquartered in Paris, it has consultative status with the United Nations.
The objective of the World Press Freedom Index “is to compare the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories” in the previous calendar year.
RSF has been publishing this index since 2002 on the basis of how freely the media can operate in different countries of the world. Bangladesh has been on this index since 2013
