Introduction

Background: Bangladesh came into existence in 1971 when Bengali East Pakistan seceded from its union with West Pakistan. About a third of this extremely poor country floods annually during the monsoon rainy season, hampering economic development.

Geography

Location: Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India

Geographic coordinates: 24 00 N, 90 00 E

Map references: Asia

Area: total: 144,000 sq km;land: 133,910 sq km;water: 10,090 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Iowa

Land boundaries: total: 4,246 km;border countries: Burma 193 km, India 4,053 km

Coastline: 580 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm;contiguous zone: 18 nm ;exclusive economic zone: 200 nm ;continental shelf: up to the outer limits of the continental margin

Climate: tropical; mild winter (October to March); hot, humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October)

Terrain: mostly flat alluvial plain; hilly in southeast

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m;highest point: Keokradong 1,230 m

Natural resources: natural gas, arable land, timber, coal

Land use: arable land: 62.11%; permanent crops: 3.07%;other: 34.82% (2001)

Irrigated land: 38,440 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: droughts, cyclones; much of the country routinely inundated during the summer monsoon season

Environment - current issues: many people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land; water-borne diseases prevalent in surface water; water pollution, especially of fishing areas, results from the use of commercial pesticides; ground water contaminated by naturally occurring arsenic; intermittent water shortages because of falling water tables in the northern and central parts of the country; soil degradation and erosion; deforestation; severe overpopulation

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: most of the country is situated on deltas of large rivers flowing from the Himalayas: the Ganges unites with the Jamuna (main channel of the Brahmaputra) and later joins the Meghna to eventually empty into the Bay of Bengal

People

Population: 144,319,628 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 33.1% (male 24,590,207/female 23,162,420); 15-64 years: 63.5% ;male 46,764,824/female 44,868,733);65 years and over: 3.4% (male 2,650,683/female 2,282,761) (2005 est.)

Median age: total: 21.87 years; male: 21.88 years; female: 21.85 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.09% (2005 est.)

Birth rate: 30.01 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate: 8.4 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.69 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female;15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female;65 years and over: 1.16 male(s)/female; total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 62.6 deaths/1,000 live births; male: 63.65 deaths/1,000 live births; female: 61.48 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 62.08 years; male: 62.13 years; female: 62.02 years (2005 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.13 children born/woman (2005 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 13,000 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 650 (2001 est.)

Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: high; food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever;vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations; water contact disease: leptospirosis; animal contact disease: rabies (2004)

Nationality: noun: Bangladeshi(s);adjective: Bangladeshi

Ethnic groups: Bengali 98%, tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims (1998)

Religions: Muslim 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998)

Languages: Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write;total population: 43.1%;male: 53.9%;female: 31.8% (2003 est.)

Government

Country name: conventional long form: People's Republic of Bangladesh; conventional short form: Bangladesh;former: East Pakistan

Government type: parliamentary democracy

Capital: Dhaka

Administrative divisions: 6 divisions; Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, and Sylhet

Independence: 16 December 1971 (from West Pakistan); note - 26 March 1971 is the date of independence from West Pakistan, 16 December 1971 is known as Victory Day and commemorates the official creation of the state of Bangladesh

National holiday: Independence Day, 26 March (1971); note - 26 March 1971 is the date of independence from West Pakistan, 16 December 1971 is Victory Day and commemorates the official creation of the state of Bangladesh

Constitution: 4 November 1972, effective 16 December 1972, suspended following coup of 24 March 1982, restored 10 November 1986, amended many times

Legal system: based on English common law

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Iajuddin AHMED (since 6 September 2002); note - the president's duties are normally ceremonial, but with the 13th amendment to the constitution ("Caretaker Government Amendment"), the president's role becomes significant at times when Parliament is dissolved and a caretaker government is installed - at presidential direction - to supervise the elections

head of government: Prime Minister Khaleda ZIA (since 10 October 2001)

cabinet: Cabinet selected by the prime minister and appointed by the president

elections: president elected by National Parliament for a five-year term; election scheduled for 16 September 2002 was not held since Iajuddin AHMED was the only presidential candidate; he was sworn in on 6 September 2002 (next election to be held by NA 2007); following legislative elections, the leader of the party that wins the most seats is usually appointed prime minister by the president

election results: Iajuddin AHMED declared by the Election Commission elected unopposed as president; percent of National Parliament vote - NA

Legislative branch: unicameral National Parliament or Jatiya Sangsad; 300 seats elected by popular vote from single territorial constituencies (the constitutional amendment reserving 30 seats for women over and above the 300 regular parliament seats expired in May 2001); members serve five-year terms

elections: last held 1 October 2001 (next to be held before October 2006)

election results: percent of vote by party - BNP and alliance partners 47%, AL 40%; seats by party - BNP 195, AL 58, JI 17, JP (Ershad faction) 14, IOJ 3, JP (Naziur) 4, other 9; note - the election of October 2001 brought a majority BNP government aligned with three other smaller parties - Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Oikya Jote, and Jatiya Party (Manzur)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (the chief justices and other judges are appointed by the president)

Economy

Economy - overview: Despite sustained domestic and international efforts to improve economic and demographic prospects, Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and ill-governed nation. Although half of GDP is generated through the service sector, nearly two-thirds of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single-most-important product. Major impediments to growth include frequent cyclones and floods, inefficient state-owned enterprises, inadequate port facilities, a rapidly growing labor force that cannot be absorbed by agriculture, delays in exploiting energy resources (natural gas), insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Economic reform is stalled in many instances by political infighting and corruption at all levels of government. Progress also has been blocked by opposition from the bureaucracy, public sector unions, and other vested interest groups. The BNP government, led by Prime Minister Khaleda ZIA, has the parliamentary strength to push through needed reforms, but the party's political will to do so has been lacking in key areas. One encouraging note: growth has been a steady 5% for the past several years.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $275.7 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4.9% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,000 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 21.2%; industry: 27.1%; services: 51.7% (2004 est.)

Labor force: 65.49 million

note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $1.71 billion in 1998-99 (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 63%, industry 11%, services 26% (FY95/96)

Unemployment rate: 40% (includes underemployment) (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line: 45% (2004 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.9%;highest 10%: 28.6% (1995-96 est.)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 33.6 (FY95/96)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed): 23.5% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget: revenues: $5.921 billion; expenditures: $8.262 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)

Public debt: 43% of GDP (2004 est.)

Agriculture - products: rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry

Industries: cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar

Industrial production growth rate: 6.5% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production: 16.45 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption: 15.3 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2002)

Oil - production: 3,581 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption: 71,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports: NA

Oil - imports: NA

Oil - proved reserves: 28.45 million bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production: 9.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption: 9.9 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves: 150.3 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance: $216.6 million (2004 est.)

Exports: $7.478 billion (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities: garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood (2001)

Exports - partners: US 22.7%, Germany 14.5%, UK 10.8%, France 6.7% (2004)

Imports: $10.03 billion (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement (2000)

Imports - partners: India 14.6%, China 11.7%, Singapore 7.8%, Japan 5.8%, Hong Kong 4.8% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $3 billion (2004 est.)

Debt - external: $19.97 billion (2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $1.575 billion (2000 est.)

Currency (code): taka (BDT)

Exchange rates: taka per US dollar - 59.513 (2004), 58.15 (2003), 57.888 (2002), 55.807 (2001), 52.142 (2000)

Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June

Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 740,000 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 1.365 million (2003)

Telephone system:

General assessment: totally inadequate for a modern country

Domestic: modernizing; introducing digital systems; trunk systems include VHF and UHF microwave radio relay links, and some fiber-optic cable in cities

International: country code - 880; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Indian Ocean); international radiotelephone communications and landline service to neighboring countries (2000)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 12, FM 12, shortwave 2 (1999)

Television broadcast stations: 15 (1999)

Internet country code: .bd

Internet hosts: 1 (2003)

Internet users: 243,000 (2003)

Transportation

Railways: total: 2,706 km;broad gauge: 884 km 1.676-m gauge;narrow gauge: 1,822 km 1.000-m gauge (2004)