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Last updated: 26th September 2017

Know Bangladesh

Bangladesh is Located in the north-eastern part of South Asia. The majestic Himalayas stand some distance to the north, while in the south lays the Bay of Bengal. West Bengal borders on the west and in the east lies the hilly and forested regions of Tripura, Mizoram (India) and Myanmar. These picturesque geographical boundaries frame a low lying plain of about 1,47,570 square kilometer, criss-crossed by innumerable rivers and streams. Mighty rivers are Padma (Ganges), Brahmaputra (Jamuna), Meghna and Karnafuli.

Bangladesh offers many tourist attractions, including archaeological sites, historical mosques and monuments, longest natural beach in the world, picturesque landscape, hill forests and wildlife, rolling tea gardens and tribes. The rich flora and fauna and colorful tribal life is very enchanting. Each part of the country offers distinctly different topography, flavors and delicacies. It is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger, freshwater pink dolphins, historical temples made of red earth.

Some of popular known tourist attractions are: Srimangal, where miles of tea gardens are located, Mainamati, Mahasthangarh, Paharpur for archaeology, Rangamati, Kaptai and Cox's Bazar for sight seeing, and the Sundarbans for wild life and the largest Mangrove forest of the world, and, Foy's Lake for scenic beauty. To know more about tourism of activities in Bangladesh, please click here.

Bangladesh-Fast Facts

Official Name: People's Republic of Bangladesh

Nationality: Bangladeshis

Weekends: Friday & Saturday, some govt and non-govt offices remain open on Saturdays.

International Dialing Code: +880

Standard Time : BST (GMT +6 Hours)

Capital City:

Dhaka

Demography

Population: 150 million (2011 Census Report by BBS)

Literacy Rate: 60%

Language:
Bangla (national language) spoken by 95%
English is widely understood and spoken.

Religion:
Muslims - 86.6%,
Hindus - 12.1%,
Buddhists - 0.6%,
Christians -0.4%,
Others -0.3%.

Age Structure:
0-14 years#33.8% (male 23,069,242#female 21,995,457)
15-64 years: 62.8% (male 42,924,778; female 40,873,077)
65 years and over: 3.4% (male 2,444,314; female 2,069,816)

Population Growth Rate: 1.59%
Birth Rate / 1000 : 25.12 births/1,000 population
Death Rate / 1000 : 8.47 deaths/1,000 population

Gender
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.18 male(s)/female
total population: 1.05 male(s)/female

Fertility Rate: 2.72 children born/woman

Ethnic Groups:
Bengalis (98%)
Other indigenous minority (2%) including Chakmas, Marmas, Santals, Garos, Manipuri, Tripura, and Tanchangya.

Geography

Geographical Location:
Latitude between 20°34' and 26°38' North
Longitude between 88°01' and 92°41' East

Area: 147,570 sq. km. (land: 133,910 sq km, water: 10,090 sq km)

Boundaries:
North - India (West Bengal and Meghalaya)
West - India (West Bengal)
East - India (Tripura and Assam) and Myanmar
South-Bay of Bengal.
Total: 4,246 km (border countries: Burma 193 km, India 4,053 km)
Coastline: 580 km

Maritime boundary:
Contiguous zone: 18 nm
Continental shelf: up to the outer limits of the continental margin
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Terrain: Mostly flat alluvial plain; hilly in southeast

7 Divisions - Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur
64 Districts
487 Subdistricts/Upazillas

Principal Rivers: Padma, Meghna, Jamuna, Surma, Brahmaputra, Karnaphuli, Teesta, Sitalakhya, Rupsha, Madhumati, Gorai, Mahananda etc.

Climate

Climate Variation: Sub-tropical monsoon

Average Temperature:
Winter 11° C - 20° C (October - February)
Summer 21° C - 38° C (March - September)

Rainfall : 1,100 mm to 3,400 mm (June - August)

Humidity:
Highest 99% (July)
Lowest 36% (December & January)

Economy

Recognitions: Bangladesh is one of the members of the Developing 8 and considered as the Next Eleven Economy of the world in 20 coined by Goldman Sachs.

GDP: $1,044 (per capita in 2013)

Poverty Level: 25% (People living with $2 per day)

Foreign Grant Dependency: 2%

Principal Crops: Rice, Jute, Tea, Wheat, Sugarcane, Pulses, Mustard, Potato, Vegetables.

Principal Industries: Garments & Textiles (2nd largest in the world), Tea, Ceramics, Cement, Leather, Jute (largest producer in the world), Chemical, Fertilizer, Shrimp Processing, Sugar, Paper, Electric and Electronics, Medicine, Fishing.

Principal Exports: Garments, Knitwear, Frozen Shrimps, Tea, Leather and Leather products, Jute and Jute products, Ceramics, IT Outsourcing, etc.

Principal Imports: Wheat, Fertilizer, Petroleum goods, Cotton, Edible Oil etc.

Principal Minerals: Natural gas,oil, Coal, white clay, glass sand etc.

Electricity: 220 Volts AC in all cities and towns

Currency:

Taka (BDT, Symbol = ৳)
1000, 500, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 in notes and
# 50,25,10,5,1 in coins.

Exchange Rate

Labour Force: 54 million
Male: 40 million
Female: 14 million
(Ref: BES-2011)

Distribution of Labor:

Agriculture: 48.4 percent

Industry: 24.3 percent

Others: 27.3 percent

Transportation Methods: Road, Air, Rail, Waterways (More information)

Export Processing Zones (EPZs): Dhaka, Uttara, Adamjee, Chittagong, Comilla, Ishwardi, Karnaphuli, and Mongla.

Historical Dates

Independence Day: 26th March

Victory Day: 16th December

Martyr's Day: 21st February (Also recognized as the International Mother Language Day)

Tourism

Places of Tourist Interest: Dhaka, Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Kaptai, Rangamati, Khagrachari, Bandarban, Kuakata, Bogra, Khulna, the Sundarbans, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Dinajpur and Comilla.

Airports: Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore, Rajshahi, Saidpur, Barisal and Cox's Bazar

More Information : Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation.

Information Technology (IT)

Country Domain: .bd
Internet Penetration: 23.38% of the population
Mobile Users: 76.434 million (June 2011 and 15th largest in the world)
Mobile Penetration: 72.08% of the population

Global Ranks of Bangladesh

8th largest country in the world in terms of population
4th largest Muslim country in the world in terms of population and 3rd largest Muslim majority country
4th most densely populated country and the most densely populated country in the world having more than 10 million population
Situated on the Ganges Delta, the largest delta in the world and also the largest wetland in the world (Ref)
Cox’s Bazaar is the longest natural sandy sea beach in world
2nd largest garments exporter in the world (Ref)
Largest producer of Jute (2nd largely grown vegetable fiber in the world)
Sundarbans (hosted by both Bangladesh and India) has the largest mangrove forest in the world