Bangladesh has ranked 177 out of 180 countries in reducing environmental pollution, the global Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2022 report, showed.
The country’s position in the index declined 15 steps in the last two years. In 2020 Bangladesh’s position was 162.
Overall score declined to 23.10 points in 2022 from 29 points in 2020.
Out of the five worst performers, four are from South Asia. India is the worst performer (180) followed by Myanmar (179), Vietnam (178) and Pakistan (176).
Afghanistan is the best performer in the region occupying 81st position followed by Bhutan (85), Maldives 113, Sri Lanka 132 and Nepal 162.
EPI 2022 considers 40 performance indicators under eleven issues including air quality, water and sanitation, heavy metals, biodiversity and habitat, forests, fisheries, climate and energy, air pollution, water resources, agriculture etc to prepare the report.
The bi-annual report is conducted by researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities with support from The McCall MacBain Foundation.
Denmark, UK, Finland, Malta and Sweden were the five best-performing countries respectively to deal with environmental issues, said the report.
