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. A military-backed, emergency caretaker regime suspended parliamentary elections planned for January 2007 in an effort to reform the political system and root out corruption. In contrast to the strikes and violent street rallies that had marked Bangladeshi politics in previous years, the parliamentary elections finally held in late December 2008 were mostly peaceful and Sheikh HASINA Wajed was reelected prime minister. About a third of this extremely poor country floods annually during the monsoon rainy season, hampering economic development.

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

24 00 N, 90 00 E

Asia

slightly smaller than Iowa

580 km

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

mostly flat alluvial plain; hilly in southeast

natural gas, arable land, timber, coal

47,250 sq km (2003)

1,210.6 cu km (1999)

droughts; cyclones; much of the country routinely inundated during the summer monsoon season

many people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land; waterborne 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

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

158,065,841 (July 2010 est.)

1.274% (2010 est.)

23.8 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)

9.08 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.)

-1.97 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2010 est.)

2.65 children born/woman (2010 est.)

less than 0.1% (2001 est.)

12,000 (2007 est.)

fewer than 500 (2007 est.)

Bengali 98%, other 2% (includes tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims) (1998)

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

Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English

2.7% of GDP (2005)

parliamentary democracy

7 divisions; Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Sylhet

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

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

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

based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

unicameral National Parliament or Jatiya Sangsad; 300 seats elected by popular vote from single territorial constituencies; members serve five-year terms

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

Awami League or AL [Sheikh HASINA]; Bangladesh Communist Party or BCP [Manjurul A. KHAN]; Bangladesh Nationalist Party or BNP [Khaleda ZIA]; Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh or BDB [Badrudozza CHOWDHURY]; Islami Oikya Jote or IOJ [Mufti Fazlul Haq AMINI]; Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh or JIB [Matiur Rahman NIZAMI]; Jatiya Party or JP (Ershad faction) [Hussain Mohammad ERSHAD]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Oli AHMED]

Advocacy to End Gender-based Violence through the MoWCA (Ministry of Women's and Children's Affairs)

ADB, ARF, BIMSTEC, C, CP, D-8, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURCAT, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OPCW, SAARC, SACEP, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMIT, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

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

The economy has grown 5-6% per year since 1996 despite political instability, poor infrastructure, corruption, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed nation. Although more than half of GDP is generated through the service sector, about 45% of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single-most-important product. Bangladesh's growth was resilient during the 2008-09 global financial crisis and recession. Garment exports, totaling $12.3 billion in FY09 and remittances from overseas Bangladeshis totaling $9.7 billion in FY09 accounted for almost 25% of GDP.

$242.4 billion (2009 est.)

$229.5 billion (2008 est.)

$216.5 billion (2007 est.)

$93.2 billion (2009 est.)

5.6% (2009 est.)

6% (2008 est.)

6.2% (2007 est.)

$1,600 (2009 est.)

$1,500 (2008 est.)

$1,400 (2007 est.)

72.5 million

2.5% (2009 est.)

2.5% (2008 est.)

36.3% (2008 est.)

33.2 (2005)

33.6 (1996)

23.7% of GDP (2009 est.)

38.2% of GDP (2009 est.)

39.4% of GDP (2008 est.)

5.1% (2009 est.)

8.9% (2008 est.)

5% (15 December 2009)

5% (31 December 2008)

13% (30 September 2009)

16.38% (31 December 2008)

$10.35 billion (30 September 2009)

$9.294 billion (31 December 2008)

$45.23 billion (30 September 2009)

$37.98 billion (31 December 2008)

$47.03 billion (31 December 2008)

$40.1 billion (31 December 2007)

$6.671 billion (31 December 2008)

$6.793 billion (31 December 2007)

$3.61 billion (31 December 2006)

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

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

5.9% (2009 est.)

22.99 billion kWh (2007 est.)

21.38 billion kWh (2007 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

6,426 bbl/day (2008 est.)

95,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)

2,612 bbl/day (2007 est.)

87,660 bbl/day (2007 est.)

28 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)

17.9 billion cu m (2008 est.)

17.9 billion cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

141.6 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)

$2.808 billion (2009 est.)

$1.032 billion (2008 est.)

$15.91 billion (2009 est.)

$15.44 billion (2008 est.)

garments, frozen fish and seafood, jute and jute goods, leather

US 24%, Germany 15.3%, UK 10%, France 7.4%, Netherlands 5.5%, Italy 4.5%, Spain 4.2% (2008)

$20.22 billion (2009 est.)

$21.51 billion (2008 est.)

machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement

China 15.8%, India 15.7%, Kuwait 8.1%, Singapore 7.6%, Japan 4.4% (2008)

$9.213 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$5.789 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

$23.22 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$22.83 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

$7.235 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$5.971 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

$98 million (31 December 2009 est.)

$97 million (31 December 2008 est.)

taka (BDT) per US dollar - 69.047 (2009), 68.554 (2008), 69.893 (2007), 69.031 (2006), 64.328 (2005)

1.39 million (2009)

45.75 million (2009)

AM 17, FM 19, shortwave 2 (2009)

17 (2009)

.bd

4,209 (2009)

556,000 (2008)

17 (2009)

gas 2,597 km (2009)

8,370 km

Chittagong, Mongla Port

the International Maritime Bureau reports the territorial waters of Bangladesh as high risk for armed robbery against ships; numerous commercial vessels have been attacked both at anchor and while underway; crews have been robbed and stores or cargoes stolen

Bangladesh Defense Force: Bangladesh Army (Sena Bahini), Bangladesh Navy (Noh Bahini, BN), Bangladesh Air Force (Biman Bahini, BAF) (2010)

16 years of age for voluntary military service; 17 years of age for officers (both with parental consent); conscription legally possible in emergency, but has never been implemented (2008)

1.3% of GDP (2009)

discussions with India remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, exchange territory for 51 small Bangladeshi exclaves in India and 111 small Indian exclaves in Bangladesh, allocate divided villages, and stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's fencing and walling off high-traffic sections of the porous boundary; a joint Bangladesh-India boundary commission resurveyed and reconstructed 92 missing pillars in 2007; after 21 years, Bangladesh resumes talks with Burma on delimiting a maritime boundary

transit country for illegal drugs produced in neighboring countries