Situated at the deltaic mouth of the Ganges, Bangladesh between 20.34 and 26.38 north latitude and 8.108 and 92.41 east longitude. Its 1,43, 998 square kilometers area has been endowed with luxuriant vegetation, punctuated in the east by a gently undulating terrain while everywhere else by numerous rivers, more prominent of which are the Padma, the Meghna, the Jamuna and the Karnafully and their countless tributaries. The country occupies a strategic position in South Asia having its border with India and Myanmar and Bay of Bengal
Bangladesh lies predominantly within the tropical belt and temperatures vary between 9.80C in January to 31.9C in July. But the mean annual variations range from 13.9C to 26.7C. Annual rainfall varies from 1.27 m in west to 2.54 m in the south-east and to 5.08 in the northern part
The population of Bangladesh is about 140 million. About 86% of the population are Muslims. The minority comprises mainly of Hindus, Christians and Buddhists. Islam entered in this part of the world in the 8th century and it plays a pivotal role in every-day life of majority of Bangladeshis. It is the 2nd largest Muslim country of the world
Bangla is the national and official language. English is widely spoken and understood. Arabic is also studied and taught in every educational institute as a compulsory subject
The nation has taken enormous steps forward in terms of human development. Access to education and health services has improved remarkably; life expectancy at birth rose from 63 years (in 2003) to 71 years (2013) in only ten years. Bangladesh’s economy grew steadily at a rate of four to six percent per annum over the last three decades, in particular due to a growing service industry and the country’s growing importance as a pro-duction hub in the international garments industry.
In 1984-85, Bangladesh’s export of textile products amounted to US$ 116 million (12 percent of all exports, 0.5 percent of the GDP), while it was almost US$ 25 billion in 2013-14 (81 percent of all exports, 17 percent of the GDP).1 Bangladesh has left the ranks of the world’s least developed countries, but remains one of the poorest nations in South Asia. With a gross national income of US$ 2,700 per person, people’s purchasing power is a lot smaller than in India or Sri Lanka. Inequality in terms of wealth and income remains striking. 43 percent of the population has less than US$ 1.25 per day. One third lives below the national pover-ty line. Every fifth person suffers from acute poverty. While 84 percent of men and 57 percent of women in working age are in employment, 85 percent of all workers are in “vulnerable employment”, which means that they are trying to meet their needs with insecure and informal jobs