Recently, Rumor Scanner observed a widely circulating claim on the internet stating that within just 8 months, the interim government has remarkably transformed Bangladesh from the 123rd to the 47th most powerful country.
See Facebook posts making this claim here, here, here, here, here, here.
Media reports making the same claim can be found in publications like Inqilab, Bangladesh Pratidin (YouTube), Banglavision (Facebook), ZoomBangla.
See the claim circulating on Threads here.
See the claim circulating on Instagram here.
See the claim circulating on TikTok here.
See the claim circulating on X (Twitter) here.
Meanwhile, some social media posts are pushing back against this narrative, asserting instead that Bangladesh was previously ranked 40th, and has now fallen to 47th in the past 8 months.
See Facebook posts making this claim here, here, here.
Fact Check
According to an investigation by the Rumor Scanner team, the claims that the interim government turned Bangladesh into the 47th most powerful country in just 8 months, or that the country dropped from 40th to 47th during this time, are not accurate. The ranking being referred to is actually based on a survey conducted between March 22 and May 23, 2024, during the previous Awami League government’s term. The list was published in September of that year, meaning it has no connection to the current interim government’s actions.
The investigation found that the claims cite a website called US News as their source. A keyword search shows that US News is a US-based media company that, along with publishing news, regularly releases rankings and analysis across various categories.
In the ranking being discussed, Bangladesh is placed 71st overall among 89 countries.
There are also rankings by category — for example, in the “Power” category, Bangladesh is ranked 47th.
Rumor Scanner has verified that this ranking was not released recently or in 2025. It was actually published on September 10, 2024. The ranking is based on survey data collected earlier that year, specifically between March 22 and May 23, 2024.
This means the most recent ranking currently available on the US News website was published based on a survey conducted during the tenure of the previous Awami League government.
By analyzing archived versions of the US News website, Rumor Scanner also found that the site typically publishes this ranking every September, with surveys usually conducted between April and July each year.
For example, the 2023 edition of the ranking was published on September 6 of that year, based on a survey conducted from March 17 to June 12. In that survey, which included 87 countries, Bangladesh was ranked 40th in the “Power” category and 69th overall.
Similarly, the 2022 edition was published on September 27, based on a survey carried out between April 30 and July 13. That year, the ranking covered 85 countries, with Bangladesh placed 44th in the “Power” category and 71st overall.
This analysis confirms that US News has not yet released its 2025 ranking. As per their usual schedule, it is expected to be published in September this year.
The claim that Bangladesh jumped from 123rd to 47th is also misleading. According to the website’s archives reviewed by Rumor Scanner, Bangladesh was first included in this ranking in 2022. Since then, the number of countries featured each year has been: 85 in 2022, 87 in 2023, and 89 in 2024. At no point has the ranking included 123 countries, making the claim that Bangladesh once ranked 123rd both factually incorrect and unrealistic.
Rumor Scanner also looked into the context behind the sudden discussion surrounding the US News ranking from September 2024. It appears that the first post claiming it was the 2025 ranking came from a Facebook page named Asian SEA Story on February 10. The post cited US News as the source and referred to the ranking as the 2025 edition. Later, on April 6, a similar post was shared by an X (formerly Twitter) account named Global Statistics, which brought the claim into wider public discussion.
Additionally, Rumor Scanner investigated the claim that Bangladesh dropped from 40th to 47th in just 8 months. This appears to have originated from a separate ranking published by Ceoworld Magazine on April 4, 2024. In that list, Bangladesh was ranked 40th among 142 countries in terms of power.
This ranking was also released during the previous Awami League government’s tenure. The confusion seems to stem from comparing this 40th position in Ceoworld Magazine’s list with the 47th position in a completely different list by US News, leading to the spread of misleading claims.
Conclusion
Therefore, both claims that Bangladesh became the 47th most powerful country within 8 months under the interim government, and that it dropped from 40th to 47th during the same period, are false.
Sources
- Ceoworld Magazine: Revealed: The World’s Most Powerful Countries For 2024
- US News: Methodology: How the 2024 Best Countries Were Ranked
