|
Bangladesh
Once the wealthiest part of South Asia, Bengal (a rather nebulous
territory that includes the country of Bangladesh and the Indian
Provinces of West Bengal, Orissa, Assam and some of the Hill States) is now having to recover its former status, having been robbed of
most of its wealth and power first by Colonial Britain's dictatorial
agricultural policies and semi-feudal zemindar system and then by
unfavourable administration by West Pakistan... but I digress - that
part is in the history section of this website.
My sister Abeer once described Bangladesh as "desperately alive". Like
the rest of the subcontinent, you take the many good with the many bad.
The bad - frequent flooding and natural disasters, bad roads, horrible
infrastructure, ineffective government and rampant political
corruption. The good - stunning landscapes, a rich diversity of flaura
and fauna, great food, and rapid growth in technology.
Here's something to think about:
Although South Asians as a whole have only been in the USA for 30-40
years, my people are already the wealthiest minority in the United
States! You may not see it yet but just you wait, haha.
Fast Facts
|
Official Name: People's Republic of Bangladesh
Independence Day: March 26, 1971
Area: 143,998 sq km (55,598 sq mi)
Population:
147,365,352 (July 2006 est.)
Capital: Dhaka (pop: ~14mil)
People: 98% Bengali, 250k Bihari, < 1mil tribal
Languages: Bangla, English
Religions: 83.0% Muslim, 16.0% Hindu, 1.0% Other
Government Type: Parliamentary Democracy
Prime Minister: Khaleda Zia (Bangladesh Nationalist Party)
President: Iajuddin Ahmed | 
|
GDP: US$330.8 billion (2006 est)
GDP per capita: US$2200
Annual Growth: 6.1%
Inflation: 7.2% (2006 est)
Industries: cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper
newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar
Import Partners: India 14.1%, China 13.5%, Kuwait 8.5%, Singapore 6.2%, Japan 4.1%, Hong Kong 4.1% (2005)
Export Partners: US 23.6%, Germany 13.5%, UK 9.4%, France 6.4% (2005)
* Source - CIA World Factbook 2007
|
|