Geography
Area: 147, 570 sq. km. (55,813 sq. mi.); about the size of Wisconsin.
Cities: Capital--Dhaka (pop. 10 million). Other cities--Chittagong
(2.8 million), Khulna (1.8 million), Rajshahi (1 million).
Terrain: Mainly flat alluvial plain, with hills in the northeast and
southeast.
Climate: Semitropical, monsoonal.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Bangladeshi(s).
Population: 140 million
Annual growth rate: 1.48%
Ethnic groups: Bengali 98%, tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims
Christian singles note-Religions: Muslim 88.3%; Hindu 10.5%; Christian
0.3%, Buddhist 0.6%, others 0.3%
Languages: Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English
Education: Attendance—55.9% Literacy--52% for males;
31% for females; a total of 41% literacy.
Health: Infant mortality rate--48/1,000. Life expectancy—60.7
years (male), 60.9 years (female).
Work force (60.3 million): Agriculture--60%; manufacturing
& mining—7.8%; others—28.5%.
Government
Type: Parliamentary democracy.
Independence: 1971 (from Pakistan).
Constitution: 1972; amended 1974, 1979, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1996, 2004.
Branches: Executive--president (chief of state), prime minister
(head of government), cabinet. Legislative--unicameral
Parliament (300 members). Judicial--civil court system based on
British model.
Administrative subdivisions: Divisions, districts, subdistricts,
unions, villages.
Political parties: 30-40 active political parties: largest ones
include Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Awami League, the
Jatiya Party, and the Jamaat-e-Islam Party.
Suffrage: Universal at age 18.
Economy
Fiscal year: July 1 to June 30.
Annual GDP growth rate (2004 est.): 5.52%.
Inflation (April 2004): 5.75%.
Per capita GDP (2003): $389.
Natural resources: Natural gas, fertile soil, water.
Agriculture (25% of GDP): Products--rice, jute, tea, sugar,
wheat. Land--cultivable area cropped at rate of 176% in 1997;
largely subsistence farming dependent on monsoon rainfall, but growing
commercial farming and increasing use of irrigation.
Industry (26% of GDP): Types--garments and knitwear, jute
goods, frozen fish and seafood, textiles, fertilizer, sugar, tea,
leather, shipbreaking for scrap, pharmaceuticals, ceramic tableware,
newsprint.
Trade (2003): Merchandise exports--$6.5 billion: garments and
knitwear, frozen fish, jute and jute goods, leather and leather
products, tea, urea fertilizer, ceramic tableware. Exports to U.S.
(2003)--$2.074 billion. Merchandise imports (2003)--$9.7
billion: capital goods, food grains, petroleum, textiles, chemicals,
vegetable oils. Imports from U.S. (2003)--$226 million.
GEOGRAPHY
Bangladesh is a low-lying, riverine country located in South Asia with
a largely marshy jungle coastline of 710 kilometers (440 mi.) on the
northern littoral of the Bay of Bengal. Formed by a deltaic plain at
the confluence of the Ganges (Padma), Brahmaputra (Jamuna), and Meghna
Rivers and their tributaries, Bangladesh's alluvial soil is highly
fertile but vulnerable to flood and drought. Hills rise above the
plain only in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the far southeast and the
Sylhet division in the northeast. Straddling the Tropic of Cancer,
Bangladesh has a subtropical monsoonal climate characterized by heavy
seasonal rainfall, moderately warm temperatures, and high humidity.
Natural calamities, such as floods, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and
tidal bores affect the country almost every year. Bangladesh also is
affected by major cyclones--on average 16 times a decade.
Urbanization is proceeding rapidly, and it is estimated that only
30% of the population entering the labor force in the future will be
absorbed into agriculture, although many will likely find other kinds
of work in rural areas. The areas around Dhaka and Comilla are the
most densely settled. The Sundarbans, an area of coastal tropical
jungle in the southwest and last wild home of the Bengal Tiger, and
the Chittagong Hill Tracts on the southeastern border with Burma and
India, are the least densely populated.
PEOPLE
The area which is now Bangladesh has a rich historical and cultural
past, combining Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Mongol/Mughul, Arab, Persian,
Turkic, and west European cultures. Residents of Bangladesh, about 98%
of whom are ethnic Bengali and speak Bangla, are called Bangladeshis.
Urdu-speaking, non-Bengali Muslims of Indian origin, and various
tribal groups, mostly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, comprise the
remainder. Most Bangladeshis (about 88.3%) are Muslims, but Hindus
constitute a sizable (10.5%) minority. There also are a small number
of Buddhists, Christians, and animists. English is spoken in urban
areas and among the educated.
Christian singles note-Sufi religious teachers succeeded in converting
many Bengalis to Islam, even before the arrival of Muslim armies from
the west. About 1200 AD, Muslim invaders established political control
over the Bengal region. This political control also encouraged
conversion to Islam. Since then, Islam has played a crucial role in
the region's history and politics, with a Muslim majority emerging,
particularly in the eastern region of Bengal.
