Bangladesh ! What a country.
If
you haven't discovered Bangladesh yet,
let us help you get to
know this incredible country.
Background: 
Bangladesh became a country 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.
Area:
144,000 sq km
(to compare, it's slightly smaller than Iowa, if
that helps)
Climate:
tropical; mild winter (October to March); hot,
humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to
October)
Population:
141,340,476 (July 2004 est.)
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 33.5% (male
24,359,149; female 23,013,811)
15-64 years: 63.1% (male 45,557,963; female 43,626,950)
65 years and over: 3.4% (male 2,575,519; female
2,207,084) (2004 est.)
Religious
affiliation:
Muslim 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998)
Ethnic
Groups:
Bengali 98%, tribal groups,
non-Bengali Muslims (1998)
Languages:
Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English
Economy:
Bangladesh remains a poor,
overpopulated, and ill-governed nation despite sustained domestic and
international efforts to improve
economic and demographic prospects. 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 hindrances 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 government
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.
Labor force by occupation:
agriculture 63%, industry 11%,
services 26% (FY95/96)
note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
UAE,
Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $1.71
billion in 1998-99 (2003)
Agricultural 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
Natural Hazzards:
droughts, cyclones; much of
the country routinely inundated during the summer monsoon season
Natural
Resources:
natural gas, arable land, timber, coal
Environmental
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
Export Partners:
US 23.9%, Germany 13.6%, UK 9.7%, France 5.9% (2003)
Import Partners:
India 15.4%, China 11.3%,
Singapore 10.8%, Japan 5.9%, Hong Kong 4.5% (2003)
Communications:
Telephones:
regular: 740,000 (2003)
mobile: 1.365 million (2003)
