Bangladesh has dropped one notch in the World Press Freedom Index 2023, prepared by Reporters Without Borders, also known as Reporters sans frontières (RSF).
The country ranked 163rd out of 180 countries assessed on the index released on Wednesday.
Bangladesh was in the 162nd position in 2022.
The country in this year's index acquired a score of 35.31, compared to a slightly higher 36.63 last year.
In the 2021 index, Bangladesh's position was 152nd with a score of 50.29; it ranked 151 in the 2020 index.
Meanwhile, India dropped 11 notches, to 161st from 150th.
In comparison, Pakistan fared better when it comes to media freedom as it was placed at 150, an improvement from last year's 157.
Norway topped the index for the seventh year in a row while North Korea placed at the bottom.
Meanwhile, Myanmar ranked 173rd and Nepal 95th.
Sri Lanka also made significant improvements, ranking 135 this year against 146 in 2022.
According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index -- which evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories and is published on World Press Freedom Day -- the situation is "very serious" in 31 countries, "difficult" in 42, "problematic" in 55, and "good" or "satisfactory" in 52 countries.
In other words, the environment for journalism is "bad" in seven out of ten countries and satisfactory in only three out of ten.
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, which it releases every year, “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.