Bangladesh (2006) | World (2008) | |
Administrative divisions | 6 divisions; Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet | 266 nations, dependent areas, and other entities |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 32.9% (male 24,957,997/female 23,533,894)
15-64 years: 63.6% (male 47,862,774/female 45,917,674) 65 years and over: 3.5% (male 2,731,578/female 2,361,435) (2006 est.) |
0-14 years: 27.4% (male 931,551,498/female 875,646,416)
15-64 years: 65.1% (male 2,174,605,518/female 2,124,494,703) 65 years and over: 7.5% (male 217,451,123/female 278,474,917) (2007 est.) |
Agriculture - products | rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry | - |
Airports | 16 (2006) | total airports - 49,024
top ten by passengers: Atlanta - 84,846,639; Chicago - 77,028,134; London - 67,530,197; Tokyo - 65,810,672; Los Angeles - 61,041,066; Dallas/Fort Worth - 60,226,138; Paris - 56,849,567; Frankfurt - 52,810,683; Beijing - 48,654,770; Denver - 47,325,016 top ten by cargo (metric tons): Memphis - 3,692,081; Hong Kong - 3,609,780; Anchorage - 2,691,395; Seoul - 2,336,572; Tokyo - 2,280,830; Shanghai - 2,168,122; Paris - 2,130,724; Frankfurt - 2,127,646; Louisville (US) - 1,983,032; Singapore - 1,931,881 (2006) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 15
over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 5 (2006) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2006) |
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Area | total: 144,000 sq km
land: 133,910 sq km water: 10,090 sq km |
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Iowa | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
Background | Europeans began to set up trading posts in the area of Bangladesh in the 16th century; eventually the British came to dominate the region and it became part of British India. In 1947, West Pakistan and East Bengal (both primarily Muslim) separated from India (largely Hindu) and jointly became the new country of Pakistan. East Bengal became East Pakistan in 1955, but the awkward arrangement of a two-part country with its territorial units separated by 1,600 km left the Bengalis marginalized and dissatisfied. East Pakistan seceded from its union with West Pakistan in 1971 and was renamed Bangladesh. About a third of this extremely poor country floods annually during the monsoon rainy season, hampering economic development. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 29.8 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 20.09 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $5.993 billion
expenditures: $8.598 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.) |
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Capital | name: Dhaka
geographic coordinates: 23 43 N, 90 25 E time difference: UTC+6 (11 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
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Climate | tropical; mild winter (October to March); hot, humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October) | a wide equatorial band of hot and humid tropical climates - bordered north and south by subtropical temperate zones - that separate two large areas of cold and dry polar climates |
Coastline | 580 km | 356,000 km
note: 94 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan |
Constitution | 4 November 1972, effective 16 December 1972; suspended following coup of 24 March 1982, restored 10 November 1986; amended many times | - |
Country name | conventional long form: People's Republic of Bangladesh
conventional short form: Bangladesh local long form: Gana Prajatantri Banladesh local short form: Banladesh former: East Bengal, East Pakistan |
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Death rate | 8.27 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 8.37 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Debt - external | $20.63 billion (2005 est.) | $54.31 trillion
note: this figure is the sum total of all countries' external debt, both public and private (2004 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Patricia A. BUTENIS
embassy: Madani Avenue, Baridhara, Dhaka 1212 mailing address: G. P. O. Box 323, Dhaka 1000 telephone: [880] (2) 885-5500 FAX: [880] (2) 882-3744 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Shamsher Mobin CHOWDHURY
chancery: 3510 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 244-0183 FAX: [1] (202) 244-5366 consulate(s) general: Los Angeles, New York |
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Disputes - international | discussions with India remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, exchange 162 miniscule enclaves in both countries, allocate divided villages, and stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh resists India's attempts to fence or wall off high-traffic sections of the porous boundary; a joint Bangladesh-India boundary inspection in 2005 revealed 92 pillars are missing; dispute with India over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; Burmese Muslim refugees strain Bangladesh's meager resources | stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 322 international land boundaries separate 194 independent states and 70 dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities; ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history, physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries; most maritime states have claimed limits that include territorial seas and exclusive economic zones; overlapping limits due to adjacent or opposite coasts create the potential for 430 bilateral maritime boundaries of which 209 have agreements that include contiguous and non-contiguous segments; boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries tend to encourage illegal cross-border activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic and cultural clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation and internal displacement of the estimated 6.6 million people and cross-border displacements of 8.6 million refugees around the world as of early 2006; just over one million refugees were repatriated in the same period; other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially hydrocarbon) resources, fisheries, and arable land; armed conflict prevails not so much between the uniformed armed forces of independent states as between stateless armed entities that detract from the sustenance and welfare of local populations, leaving the community of nations to cope with resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, and environmental degradation |
Economic aid - recipient | $1.575 billion (2000 est.) | ODA, $106.4 billion (2005) |
Economy - overview | Despite sustained domestic and international efforts to improve economic and demographic prospects, Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-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. 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. | Global output rose by 5.2% in 2007, led by China (11.4%), India (8.5%), and Russia (7.4%). The 14 other successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 8%-10% range of growth. From 2006 to 2007 growth rates slowed in all the major industrial countries except for the United Kingdom (3.0%). Analysts attribute the slowdown to uncertainties in the financial markets and lowered consumer confidence. Worldwide, nations varied widely in their growth results. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies, notably the EU. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from an economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuated a growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the initial coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continued through 2007. |
Electricity - consumption | 16.2 billion kWh (2003) | 16.78 trillion kWh (2005 est.) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2003) | 635.6 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2003) | 625.7 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - production | 17.42 billion kWh (2003) | 18.55 trillion kWh (2005 est.) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Keokradong 1,230 m |
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m |
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 | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion; global warming becoming a greater concern |
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 |
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Ethnic groups | Bengali 98%, tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims (1998) | - |
Exchange rates | taka per US dollar - 64.328 (2005), 59.513 (2004), 58.15 (2003), 57.888 (2002), 55.807 (2001) | - |
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 (eligible for a second 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 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 |
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Exports | NA bbl/day | 63.76 million bbl/day (2004) |
Exports - commodities | garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood (2001) | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
top ten - share of world trade: electrical machinery, including computers 14.8%; mineral fuels, including oil, coal, gas, and refined products 14.4%; nuclear reactors, boilers, and parts 14.2%; cars, trucks, and buses 8.9%; scientific and precision instruments 3.5%; plastics 3.4%; iron and steel 2.7%; organic chemicals 2.6%; pharmaceutical products 2.6%; diamonds, pearls, and precious stones 1.9% (2006 est.) |
Exports - partners | US 23.6%, Germany 13.5%, UK 9.4%, France 6.4% (2005) | US 15.1%, Germany 7.4%, China 5.9%, France 4.6%, UK 4.5%, Japan 4.4% (2006) |
Fiscal year | 1 July - 30 June | - |
Flag description | green field with a large red disk shifted slightly to the hoist side of center; the red disk represents the rising sun and the sacrifice to achieve independence; the green field symbolizes the lush vegetation of Bangladesh | - |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 19.9%
industry: 19.8% services: 60.3% (2004 est.) |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32% services: 64% (2007 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 6.4% (2005 est.) | 5.2% (2007 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 24 00 N, 90 00 E | - |
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 | the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13.7-billion-year age estimated for the universe |
Heliports | - | 1,359 (2007) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3.9%
highest 10%: 28.6% (1995-96 est.) |
lowest 10%: 2.5%
highest 10%: 29.8% (2002 est.) |
Illicit drugs | transit country for illegal drugs produced in neighboring countries | cocaine: worldwide coca leaf cultivation in 2005 amounted to 208,500 hectares; Colombia produced slightly more than two-thirds of the worldwide crop, followed by Peru and Bolivia; potential pure cocaine production rose to 900 from 645 metric tons in 2005 - partially due to improved methodologies used to calculate levels of production; Colombia conducts aggressive coca eradication campaign, but both Peruvian and Bolivian Governments are hesitant to eradicate coca in key growing areas; 551 metric tons of export-quality cocaine (85% pure) is documented to have been seized or destroyed in 2005; US consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been in excess of 380 metric tons
opiates: worldwide illicit opium poppy cultivation reached 208,500 hectares in 2005; potential opium production of 4,990 metric tons was only a 9% decrease over 2004's highest total recorded since estimates began in mid-1980s; Afghanistan is world's primary opium producer, accounting for 90% of the global supply; Southeast Asia - responsible for 9% of global opium - saw marginal increases in production; Latin America produced 1% of global opium, but most was refined into heroin destined for the US market; if all potential opium was processed into pure heroin, the potential global production would be 577 metric tons of heroin in 2005 |
Imports | NA bbl/day | 63.18 million bbl/day (2004) |
Imports - commodities | machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement (2000) | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
top ten - share of world trade: see listing for exports |
Imports - partners | India 14.1%, China 13.5%, Kuwait 8.5%, Singapore 6.2%, Japan 4.1%, Hong Kong 4.1% (2005) | China 9.8%, Germany 8.8%, US 8.6%, Japan 5.6% (2006) |
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 | - |
Industrial production growth rate | 6.7% (2005 est.) | 5% (2007 est.) |
Industries | cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | total: 60.83 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 61.87 deaths/1,000 live births female: 59.74 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.) |
total: 43.52 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 46.32 deaths/1,000 live births female: 40.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 7% (2005 est.) | developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 20% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in one Third World countries (Zimbabwe); inflation rates have declined for most countries for the last several years, held in check by increasing international competition from several low wage countries (2005 est.) |
International organization participation | ARF, AsDB, BIMSTEC, C, CP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OPCW, SAARC, SACEP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNOMIG, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO | - |
Irrigated land | 47,250 sq km (2003) | 2,770,980 sq km (2003) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court (the chief justices and other judges are appointed by the president) | - |
Labor force | 66.6 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 (2005 est.) |
3.001 billion (2007 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 63%
industry: 11% services: 26% (FY95/96) |
agriculture: 40%
industry: 20.5% services: 39.4% (2007 est.) |
Land boundaries | total: 4,246 km
border countries: Burma 193 km, India 4,053 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 251,060 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries
note: 45 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include: Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked |
Land use | arable land: 55.39%
permanent crops: 3.08% other: 41.53% (2005) |
arable land: 13.31%
permanent crops: 4.71% other: 81.98% (2005) |
Languages | Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English | Mandarin Chinese 13.22%, Spanish 4.88%, English 4.68%, Arabic 3.12%, Hindi 2.74%, Portuguese 2.69%, Bengali 2.59%, Russian 2.2%, Japanese 1.85%, Standard German 1.44%, Wu Chinese 1.17% (2005 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
Legal system | based on English common law | all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
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 no later than January 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - BNP and alliance partners 41%, AL 40%; seats by party - BNP 193, AL 58, JI 17, JP (Ershad faction) 14, IOJ 2, JP (Manzur) 4, other 12; note - the election of October 2001 brought a majority BNP government aligned with three other smaller parties - JI, IOJ, and Jatiya Party (Manzur) |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population: 62.46 years
male: 62.47 years female: 62.45 years (2006 est.) |
total population: 65.82 years
male: 63.89 years female: 67.84 years (2007 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 43.1% male: 53.9% female: 31.8% (2003 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 82% male: 87% female: 77% note: over two-thirds of the world's 785 million illiterate adults are found in only eight countries (India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Egypt); of all the illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab states, where around one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005 est.) |
Location | Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India | - |
Map references | Asia | Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World |
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 |
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: territorial sea - 12 nm, contiguous zone - 24 nm, and exclusive economic zone - 200 nm; additional zones provide for exploitation of continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm |
Merchant marine | total: 42 ships (1000 GRT or over) 341,733 GRT/485,840 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 3, cargo 29, container 6, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 3 foreign-owned: 1 (China 1) registered in other countries: 10 (Antigua and Barbuda 4, Comoros 1, Malta 3, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1, Singapore 1) (2006) |
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Military branches | Bangladesh Defense Force: Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Air Force (Bangladesh Biman Bahini, BAF) (2006) | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $1.01 billion (2005 est.) | - |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.8% (2005 est.) | roughly 2% of gross world product (2005 est.) |
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 | - |
Nationality | noun: Bangladeshi(s)
adjective: Bangladeshi |
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Natural hazards | droughts, cyclones; much of the country routinely inundated during the summer monsoon season | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | natural gas, arable land, timber, coal | the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | -0.68 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.) | - |
Pipelines | gas 2,604 km (2006) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Awami League or AL [Sheikh HASINA]; Bangladesh Communist Party or BCP [Saifuddin Ahmed MANIK]; Bangladesh Nationalist Party or BNP [Khaleda ZIA]; Islami Oikya Jote or IOJ [Mufti Fazlul Haq AMINI]; Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh or JIB [Motiur Rahman NIZAMI]; Jatiya Party or JP (Ershad faction) [Hussain Mohammad ERSHAD]; Jatiya Party (Manzur faction) [Naziur Rahman MANZUR]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Badrudozza CHOWDHURY and Oli AHMED] | - |
Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | - |
Population | 147,365,352 (July 2006 est.) | 6,602,224,175 (July 2007 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 45% (2004 est.) | - |
Population growth rate | 2.09% (2006 est.) | 1.167% (2007 est.) |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 15, FM 13, shortwave 2 (2006) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Railways | total: 2,768 km
broad gauge: 946 km 1.676-m gauge narrow gauge: 1,822 km 1.000-m gauge (2005) |
total: 1,370,782 km (2006) |
Religions | Muslim 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998) | Christians 33.32% (of which Roman Catholics 16.99%, Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.53%, Anglicans 1.25%), Muslims 21.01%, Hindus 13.26%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.35%, Jews 0.23%, Baha'is 0.12%, other religions 11.78%, non-religious 11.77%, atheists 2.32% (2007 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 (2006 est.) |
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.064 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.024 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.781 male(s)/female total population: 1.014 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | - |
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 - 6; international radiotelephone communications and landline service to neighboring countries (2005) |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 1.07 million (2005) | 1,263,367,600 (2005) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 9 million (2005) | 2,168,433,600 (2005) |
Television broadcast stations | 15 (1999) | NA |
Terrain | mostly flat alluvial plain; hilly in southeast | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 3.11 children born/woman (2006 est.) | 2.59 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 2.5% (includes underemployment) (2005 est.) | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2007 est.) |
Waterways | 8,372 km
note: includes 5,635 km main cargo routes; network reduced to 5,200 km in dry season (2005) |
671,886 km (2004) |