Bangladesh
appeared on the world map as an independent and sovereign state on December
16, 1971 following the victory at the War of Liberation with Pakistan,
Bangladesh is a member of the United Nations (UN) and its various specialized
bodies and agencies including ESCAP. She is also a member of the Commonwealth
of Nations and Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) including their
various affiliated organs. Bangladesh has multiparty parliamentary from
of democracy, where the Prime Minister is the head of government. The 330
seat National Parliament, known as the ‘Jatiya Sangshad’ has a normal term
of 5 years. The constitutional Head of State is the President. Bangladesh,
which has a thousand years of recorded history, has a rich and varied cultural
heritage, and is well known for its music, poetry and paintings.
The
country has a total area of 1,47,570 sq. km. It is a deltaic plain, cress-crossed
by a number of mighty rivers like the Padma-Ganga, Brahmputra-Jamuna, Meghna
and their tributaries and distributories. Bangladesh lies between 20.240-26.380
N latitude and 88.010-92.500 E longitude. It is fenced by the Bay of Bengal
on the south and by India on the north, east and the west. There is a small
strip of frontier with Myanmar (Burma) on the southeastern edge. Located
in one of the wettest regions of the world, Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon
climate characterized by rain bearing winds, warm temperatures and high
humidity. The country has mainly four seasons: Winter (Dec-Feb), Summer
(Mar-May), Monsoon (June-Sept) and Autumn (Oct-Nov). Bangladesh has been
subject to climatic extremities. Especially during summer and monsoon,
tropical cyclones, storms and tidal bores cause widespread damage and destruction.
This
is a land of 126 million people comprising 86.6% Muslims, 12.1% Hindus,
0.8% Buddhists, 0.7% Christians and others. Over 98% of the people speak
in Bangla, although English is widely used. The country is divided into
six administrative divisions namely Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi,
Barisal and Sylhet. A division is composed of a number of districts. Altogether
there are 64 districts in Bangladesh. The districts are further divided
into 490 thanas. Several union councils constitute a thana and there are
15-20 villages is each thana. The local government is conducted by elected
bodies known in urban areas as Pourasavas (municipality) and in rural areas
as Union Parisads, headed by an elected Chairman. Dhaka is the capital
and the largest metropolitan city of the country.
Economic
Development has always been constrained mainly by large population and
one of the highest densities of the world (over 830 persons a square kilometer).
The population growth rate is over 2% a year despite high government priority
given to population control and family planning.
Development
has also been impeded by a series of external shocks and recurring natural
disasters like cyclone, floods etc.
Agriculture
generates about one third of GDP, provides employment of over 60% of the
labor force and accounts for about half the value of export earnings. She
is marginally deficit in food grain. The services sector accounts for about
52% of value added, agriculture 31% and Industry 17%. Bangladesh import
more than it exports. Aid and remittances from overseas works finance the
external deficit. Exports of garments have increased significantly in recent
years, but import growth has continued unabated. Bangladesh has a few proven
mineral resources, except deposit of enormous natural gas.
Bangladesh
is one of the poorest countries of the world with a per capita income of
US $ 300. Bangladesh’s economy has grown by over 4.5 per year in real terms
since the mid 1970s. With population growth of around 2% annually per capital
incomes have risen by 2.5% per year. Also employment has been unable to
keep up with increase in the labor force. Poverty continuous to be widespread,
with more than 50% of the population estimated to be living below the poverty
line. Its people have a life expectancy of 58 years. Mortality rate of
the children under 5 in Bangladesh is one of the highest in the world.
About 60 percent of the children experience moderate to severe malnutrition
and the people in general suffer from endemic health problems. Approximately
53 percent of the population is illiterate.
The
major economic resources of Bangladesh are notably the fertile land, abundant
water resources and ample human resource. But due to paucity of capital,
modern technology and skilled labour force, gainful utilization of the
work force has not been possible in the past. The trend in the ration of
population to physicians and hospital beds, although improving, is still
low. Availability of nurses is very low. Therefore, there is a strong need
to improve availability of physicians, hospital beds and nurses, in addition
to the need for better quality of medical services.
On the
contrary, Bangladesh is also recognized as a country with lots of potentials
reflected in the capacity to live with disasters, discovery and promotion
of oral dehydration solution, introduction of micro-credit schemes, fertility
reduction and many other, the rest of the world is benefiting from. Bangladesh
is also a world leader for innovative NGO programs which work in partnership
with the government providing many services, including, skill training,
non-formal education, health and family planning, water supply and sanitation.
The
rate of population growth declined from over 2.5 percent in 1971 to 1.8
percent in 1996. Total Facility Rate (TFR) declined from 6.3 in 1975 to
3.4 in 1996, infant mortality rate declined from 140 per thousand live
births in 1975 to 78 per thousand in 1996 and maternal mortality rate from
6.2 in 1981 to 4.4 per 10000 live births in 1996. Contraceptive prevalence
rate went up from 8 per cent in 1975 to over 48 per cent in 1996. Life
expectancy at birth rose from 45 years in 1970 to 58 in 1996. There have
been some impressive achievements in the area of primary health care and
sanitation also. Expanded programme of immunisation increased its coverage
from 2 percent in 1985 to 77 per cent in 1996. Dramatic improvement in
the use of oral Dehydration Therapy (ORT) has also improved child survival
significantly.
Over
90 per cent of the people in the rural areas now use safe drinking water
compared with 56 per cent only in 1975 of latrine. There has also been
improvement in the coverage of the sanitary methods (if recent problem
of arsenic is not accounted for) from 9 percent in 1991 to 37 per cent
in 1996.
Public
expenditure on health, education and safety nets have increased considerably
and will continue to rise, Since 1990, the share of Annual Development
Program (ADP) devoted to the social sector has more than doubled. Bangladesh
have made substantial progress in health and family planning. Fertility
declined owing to the increase in the use of contraceptives.
