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People's Republic of Bangladesh

  • Full name: People's Republic of Bangladesh
  • President: Zillur Rahman
  • Prime minister: Sheikh Hasina
  • Capital and largest city: Dhaka 
  • Major language: Bengali 
  • Life expectancy: 63 years (men), 65 years (women) (UN) 
  • Monetary unit: 1 taka = 100 paisa 
  • Main exports: Garments, fish, jute goods, leather products 
  • GNI per capita: US $470 (World Bank, 2007) 
  • Internet domain: .bd 
  • International dialling code: +880
  • Land area: 51,703 sq mi (133,911 sq km); total area: 55,598 sq mi (144,000 sq km)
  • Population (2008 est.): 153,546,901 (growth rate: 2.0%); birth rate: 28.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 57.4/1000; life expectancy: 63.2; density per sq km: 1,146
  • Other large cities: Chittagong, 2,592,400; Khulna, 1,211,500
  • Ethnicity/race: Bengali 98%, tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims (1998)
  • Religions: Islam 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998)
  • Literacy rate: 43% (2003 est.)
  • Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $301.4 billion; per capita $2,100. Real growth rate: 5.4%. Inflation: 6.7%. Unemployment: 2.5% (includes underemployment). Arable land: 55.39%. Agriculture: rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry. Labor force: 66.6 million; note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; agriculture 63%, industry 11%, services 26% (FY95/96). Industries: cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar. Natural resources: natural gas, arable land, timber, coal. Exports: $9.372 billion (2005 est.): garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood (2001). Imports: $12.97 billion (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement (2000). Major trading partners: U.S., Germany, UK, France, Italy, India, China, Singapore, Kuwait, Japan, Hong Kong (2004).
  • Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 831,000 (2004); mobile cellular: 2,781,600 (2004). Radio broadcast stations: AM 15, FM 13, shortwave 2 (2006) Television broadcast stations: 15 (1999). Internet hosts: 266 (2005). Internet users: 300,000 (2005).
  • Transportation: Railways: total: 2,706 km (2004). Highways: total: 239,226 km; paved: 22,726 km; unpaved: 216,500 km (2003). Waterways: 8,372 km; note: includes 2,635 km main cargo routes (2005). Ports and harbors: Chittagong, Mongla Port. Airports: 16 (2005)

    Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics www.bbsgov.org