A large majority of countries on the Democracy Index 2020 index recorded a decline in their total score compared with 2019 amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the average global score falling from 5.44 in 2019 to 5.37 to hit an all-time low.

The South Asian nation, however, is still classified as a hybrid regime and lags behind neighbouring India, which slipped two places to 53 with an overall score of 6.61 as a result of democratic backsliding under the leadership of Narendra Modi, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The 2020 result represents a significant deterioration mostly brought about by government-imposed restrictions on individual freedoms and civil liberties that occurred across the globe in response to the pandemic, the report said Bangladesh made a 'marginal' improvement in terms of upholding democratic norms which pushed its overall score up to 5.99 to rank 76th on Democracy Index 2020, from 80th place with a score of 5.88 a year ago.

The increasing influence of religion under the Modi premiership, whose policies have fomented anti-Muslim feeling and religious strife, has damaged the political fabric of the country while the enactment of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 continued to fuel riots in 2020, the report said.

However, one of the biggest country downgrades involved Myanmar which fell down the global rankings by 13 spots to 135 as a result of 'mass voter suppression', particularly in the volatile Rakhine state, during the November 2020 elections.

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