Digital Report

Bangladesh is this year’s The Economist country of the year.

Yesterday, the globally acclaimed UK-based magazine announced its pick for the 2024 title, naming Bangladesh “for toppling a despot and taking strides towards a more liberal government”.

The shortlist at The Economist this year also included Poland, South Africa, Argentina, and Syria.

According to the magazine, Poland was included as the country spent the last 12 months under the administration of Donald Tusk fixing the damage done by its previous leader. South Africa challenged the domination of the African National Congress (ANC), which lost its outright parliamentary majority for the first time this year. In Argentina, the government of Javier Milei introduced economic policies to combat its long struggles with high inflation and loan defaults.

Syria was included for finally being able to ouster Bashar al-Assad after 13 years of civil war. The Economist said that the violence killed perhaps 600,000 people, and that his fall brought joy to Syrians.

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However, Bangladesh won out because in August, students led street demonstrations that escalated to forcing the autocratic Sheikh Hasina out of power. The Economist said Hasina had become repressing, rigged elections, jailed opponents, and ordered security forces to shoot protesters.

“Huge sums of money were stolen on her watch,” The Economist added.

The Economist also delivered a summary of Bangladesh’s challenges ahead, with a “history of vengeful violence when power changes hands”. It called the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) “venal”, and warned of “Islamic extremism”. But The Economist also called the transition so far “encouraging”. It commended the steps taken by the temporary “technocratic” government of Prof Yunus.

For 2025, The Economist says Bangladesh’s main challenge will be to repair ties with India and decide on a schedule for elections, but first making sure the courts are neutral and opposition parties have time to organise.