Bangladesh is The Economist’s Country of the Year

Last Updated on December 21, 2024 6:24 am

Like every year, The Economist has selected the best country of the year this year. According to the results, Bangladesh is the best country of the year for 2024.

This information is known from the report of The Economist published on Thursday.

The media has published the list of the best countries for 2024. It is said that the best country is not chosen based on whether it is the richest, happiest or morally best; it is chosen based on whether it has improved the most in the previous 12 months.

In choosing the best country this time, there were five countries in the final list. Apart from Bangladesh, Syria, Argentina, South Africa and Poland are on the list.

In the end, the best were chosen in a ‘heated debate’ among The Economist correspondents—where Bangladesh was selected as the best country of the year and the runner-up Syria.

The report said about Bangladesh, ‘Our winner this time is Bangladesh, who overthrew a dictator. In August, student-led street protests ousted Sheikh Hasina, who had ruled the country of 175 million for 15 years. As the daughter of the country’s independence heroes, she once led a booming economy. But she has since turned to repression, rigging elections, jailing opponents and ordering security forces to shoot protesters. Her rule has seen huge sums of money embezzled.

“Bangladesh has a history of retaliatory violence during power transitions. The main opposition BNP is corrupt. Islamic extremism is also a threat. But so far, their transformation has been promising. There is an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, which has the support of students, the military, business and civil society. It has restored order and stabilized the economy.”

“This government will have to sort out relations with India in 2025 and decide when to hold elections. “Before that, we need to make sure that the country’s courts are running fairly and that opposition parties are given time to organize. None of this will be easy.”

“However, our best country this year is Bangladesh for ousting a dictator and moving towards a more liberal government.”

Syria, which recently ousted Bashar al-Assad, was named this year’s runner-up.

Argentina also made the final list for economic reforms, and South Africa and Poland for turning against bad governments and forming new ones.

The 2023 winner was Greece. The country was named the best country for pulling itself out of a long financial crisis and re-electing a moderate moderate government.

Previous winners include Colombia (for ending a civil war), Ukraine (for resisting Russian aggression) and Malawi (for democratization).