In March 1986, Ershad removed military commanders from key
civil posts and abolished martial law offices and more than 150
military courts in an attempt to ease martial law restrictions.
Because these moves satisfied some of the demands of the
opposition, an eight-party alliance comprising the Awami League and
some smaller parties agreed to participate in parliamentary
elections. However, the seven-party alliance led by the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party boycotted the May 1986 elections, and according
to the opposition parties the elections were marred by extensive
fraud, including overt support for Jatiyo Party candidates by
Ershad and other government officials, theft of ballot boxes, and
beatings of opposition party workers. Official figures claimed the
turnout at the polls was between 45 and 50 percent of the
electorate, but other observers estimated that only 10 to 30
percent participated. The elections gave the Jatiyo Party an
absolute majority of 153 seats in Parliament; its close ally, the
Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal (National Socialist Party), took 7 seats.
The Awami League gained seventy-six seats, the Jamaat e Islami took
ten seats, and a number of smaller parties and independents won a
total of fifty-four seats. All thirty seats reserved for women went
to supporters of the Jatiyo Party, giving Ershad's supporters a
comfortable majority (see
table 17, Appendix).
With Parliament under his control, Ershad proceeded with plans
for a presidential election. He resigned as army chief of staff in
August 1986 but remained chief martial law administrator and
commander in chief of the armed forces. He officially joined the
Jatiyo Party in September, was elected its chairman, and became the
party's candidate for president. The opposition parties did
everything in their power to block these moves, claiming that the
trappings of a democratic process were a sham while martial law was
in effect. Awami League members of Parliament refused to attend its
opening session, and in July Parliament adjourned for an indefinite
period. Leftist parties and the alliances led by the Awami League,
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and Jamaat e Islami boycotted the
elections and organized widespread demonstrations, leading to the
jailing of many opposition leaders and the house arrest of Hasina
and Khaleda Zia. Yet the opposition's tactics did not prevent the
successful completion of the presidential election in October.
Ershad easily defeated 11 other candidates, officially obtaining 22
million votes (84 percent) of the electorate. Opposition parties
again claimed that the election results were fraudulent, and they
asserted that only 3 percent of the electorate had cast ballots.
Firmly in control of a civilian government as well as the
military establishment, Ershad took steps to legitimize his rule of
the previous four years. He summoned Parliament into session on
November 10, 1986, to consider a seventh amendment to the
Constitution, which would ratify his assumption of power in 1982
and all subsequent actions of his martial law administration. The
opposition again took to the streets in protest. The Bangladesh
Nationalist Party, Jamaat e Islami, and a leftist five-party
alliance led a general strike on November 10. The Awami League,
demanding the lifting of martial law, boycotted Parliament and
instead held a "parallel parliament" on the stairs of Parliament
House. Inside, the 223 representatives present for the session
voted unanimously in favor of the Seventh Amendment, and hours
later Ershad announced in a national address the withdrawal of
martial law and the full restoration of the Constitution. Prime
Minister Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury proclaimed these events a
"glorious chapter," but Hasina described them as a "black chapter"
in Bangladesh's history.
In early 1987, it appeared that Ershad had outmaneuvered his
opponents and made the transition to a civilian leadership. The
opposition was in disarray. By the time Awami League had decided to
participate in Parliament in 1986, its coalition had shrunk from
fifteen to eight parties. As a result, it had lost any
opportunities it might have had for immediate cooperation with the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other parties, and it forfeited
its claims to moral leadership in the fight against Ershad's
regime. The rift between the Awami League and other opposition
parties widened during the first half of 1987. For example, the
newspapers were full of reports of the insults exchanged between
Hasina and other opposition leaders. Ershad took advantage of the
situation by convening Parliament in June to consider measures to
consolidate his regime further. The most controversial measure was
the District Council (Zila Parishad) Bill. This act expanded
representative government by allowing elected representatives
(members of Parliament and chairmen of subdistrict and municipality
councils) to sit on district councils, but it also made provision
for members of the military to participate as nonvoting members.
The opposition viewed this move as an attempt to install the armed
forces in the administration of the country on a permanent basis,
thus favoring Ershad and his military supporters. The furor raised
by the District Council (Zila Parishad) Bill grew into a storm that
reunited the opposition and seriously destabilized Ershad's
government from mid-1987 to mid-1988.
Background | | Europeans began to set up trading posts in the area of Bangladesh in the 16th century; eventually the British came to dominate the region and it became part of British India. In 1947, West Pakistan and East Bengal (both primarily Muslim) separated from India (largely Hindu) and jointly became the new country of Pakistan. East Bengal became East Pakistan in 1955, but the awkward arrangement of a two-part country with its territorial units separated by 1,600 km left the Bengalis marginalized and dissatisfied. East Pakistan seceded from its union with West Pakistan in 1971 and was renamed Bangladesh. A military-backed, emergency caretaker regime suspended parliamentary elections planned for January 2007 in an effort to reform the political system and root out corruption. In contrast to the strikes and violent street rallies that had marked Bangladeshi politics in previous years, the parliamentary elections finally held in late December 2008 were mostly peaceful and Sheikh HASINA Wajed was reelected prime minister. About a third of this extremely poor country floods annually during the monsoon rainy season, hampering economic development.
|
Location | | Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India
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Area(sq km) | | total: 143,998 sq km land: 130,168 sq km water: 13,830 sq km
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Geographic coordinates | | 24 00 N, 90 00 E
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Land boundaries(km) | | total: 4,246 km border countries: Burma 193 km, India 4,053 km
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Coastline(km) | | 580 km
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Climate | | tropical; mild winter (October to March); hot, humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October)
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Elevation extremes(m) | | lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: Keokradong 1,230 m
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Natural resources | | natural gas, arable land, timber, coal
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Land use(%) | | arable land: 55.39% permanent crops: 3.08% other: 41.53% (2005)
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Irrigated land(sq km) | | 47,250 sq km (2003)
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Total renewable water resources(cu km) | | 1,210.6 cu km (1999)
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) | | total: 79.4 cu km/yr (3%/1%/96%) per capita: 560 cu m/yr (2000)
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Natural hazards | | droughts; cyclones; much of the country routinely inundated during the summer monsoon season
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Environment - current issues | | many people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land; waterborne diseases prevalent in surface water; water pollution, especially of fishing areas, results from the use of commercial pesticides; ground water contaminated by naturally occurring arsenic; intermittent water shortages because of falling water tables in the northern and central parts of the country; soil degradation and erosion; deforestation; severe overpopulation
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Environment - international agreements | | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
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Geography - note | | most of the country is situated on deltas of large rivers flowing from the Himalayas: the Ganges unites with the Jamuna (main channel of the Brahmaputra) and later joins the Meghna to eventually empty into the Bay of Bengal
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Population | | 156,050,883 (July 2009 est.)
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Age structure(%) | | 0-14 years: 34.6% (male 27,065,625/female 26,913,961) 15-64 years: 61.4% (male 45,222,182/female 50,537,052) 65 years and over: 4% (male 3,057,255/female 3,254,808) (2009 est.)
|
Median age(years) | | total: 23.3 years male: 22.9 years female: 23.5 years (2009 est.)
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Population growth rate(%) | | 1.292% (2009 est.)
|
Birth rate(births/1,000 population) | | 24.68 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
|
Death rate(deaths/1,000 population) | | 9.23 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
|
Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population) | | -2.53 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Urbanization(%) | | urban population: 27% of total population (2008) rate of urbanization: 3.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
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Sex ratio(male(s)/female) | | at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.9 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.94 male(s)/female total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
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Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births) | | total: 59.02 deaths/1,000 live births male: 66.12 deaths/1,000 live births female: 51.64 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
|
Life expectancy at birth(years) | | total population: 60.25 years male: 57.57 years female: 63.03 years (2009 est.)
|
Total fertility rate(children born/woman) | | 2.74 children born/woman (2009 est.)
|
Nationality | | noun: Bangladeshi(s) adjective: Bangladeshi
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Ethnic groups(%) | | Bengali 98%, other 2% (includes tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims) (1998)
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Religions(%) | | Muslim 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998)
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Languages(%) | | Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English
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Country name | | conventional long form: People's Republic of Bangladesh conventional short form: Bangladesh local long form: Gana Prajatantri Banladesh local short form: Banladesh former: East Bengal, East Pakistan
|
Government type | | parliamentary democracy
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Capital | | name: Dhaka geographic coordinates: 23 43 N, 90 24 E time difference: UTC+6 (11 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
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Administrative divisions | | 6 divisions; Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet
|
Constitution | | 4 November 1972; effective 16 December 1972; suspended following coup of 24 March 1982; restored 10 November 1986; amended many times
|
Legal system | | based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
|
Suffrage | | 18 years of age; universal
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Executive branch | | chief of state: President Zillur RAHMAN (since 12 February 2009) head of government: Prime Minister Sheikh HASINA Wajed (since 6 January 2009) cabinet: Cabinet selected by the prime minister and appointed by the president elections: president elected by National Parliament for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); last election held on 11 February 2009 (next scheduled election to be held in 2014) election results: Zillur RAHMAN declared president-elect by the Election Commission on 11 February 2009 (sworn in on 12 February); he ran unopposed as president; percent of National Parliament vote - NA
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Legislative branch | | unicameral National Parliament or Jatiya Sangsad; 300 seats elected by popular vote from single territorial constituencies; members serve five-year terms elections: last held 29 December 2008 (next to be held in 2013) election results: percent of vote by party - AL 49%, BNP 33.2%, JP 7%, JIB 4.6%, other 6.2%; seats by party - AL 230, BNP 30, JP 27, JIB 2, other 11
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Judicial branch | | Supreme Court (the chief justices and other judges are appointed by the president)
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Political pressure groups and leaders | | Advocacy to End Gender-based Violence through the MoWCA (Ministry of Women's and Children's Affairs) other: environmentalists; Islamist groups; religious leaders; teachers; union leaders
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International organization participation | | ADB, ARF, BIMSTEC, C, CP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURCAT, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OPCW, SAARC, SACEP, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMIT, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
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Flag description | | green field with a large red disk shifted slightly to the hoist side of center; the red disk represents the rising sun and the sacrifice to achieve independence; the green field symbolizes the lush vegetation of Bangladesh
|
Economy - overview | | The economy has grown 5-6% per year since 1996 despite inefficient state-owned enterprises, delays in exploiting natural gas resources, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed nation. Although more than half of GDP is generated through the service sector, nearly two-thirds of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single-most-important product. Garment exports and remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas, mainly in the Middle East and East Asia, fuel economic growth. In 2008 Bangladesh pursued a monetary policy aimed at maintaining high employment, but created higher inflation in the process.
|
GDP (purchasing power parity) | | $226.4 billion (2008 est.) $214 billion (2007 est.) $201.5 billion (2006 est.) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
|
GDP (official exchange rate) | | $84.2 billion (2008 est.)
|
GDP - real growth rate(%) | | 5.8% (2008 est.) 6.2% (2007 est.) 6.4% (2006 est.)
|
GDP - per capita (PPP) | | $1,500 (2008 est.) $1,400 (2007 est.) $1,300 (2006 est.) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
|
GDP - composition by sector(%) | | agriculture: 19.1% industry: 28.6% services: 52.3% (2008 est.)
|
Labor force | | 70.86 million note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $4.8 billion in 2005-06. (2008 est.)
|
Labor force - by occupation(%) | | agriculture: 63% industry: 11% services: 26% (FY95/96)
|
Unemployment rate(%) | | 2.5% (2008 est.) 2.5% (2007 est.)
|
Population below poverty line(%) | | 45% (2004 est.)
|
Household income or consumption by percentage share(%) | | lowest 10%: 4.3% highest 10%: 26.6% (2005)
|
Distribution of family income - Gini index | | 33.2 (2005) 33.6 (1996)
|
Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP) | | 24.3% of GDP (2008 est.)
|
Budget | | revenues: $8.825 billion expenditures: $12.54 billion (2008 est.)
|
Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%) | | 8.9% (2008 est.) 9.1% (2007 est.)
|
Stock of money | | $9.294 billion (31 December 2008) $8.444 billion (31 December 2007)
|
Stock of quasi money | | $37.98 billion (31 December 2008) $32.35 billion (31 December 2007)
|
Stock of domestic credit | | $47.03 billion (31 December 2008) $40.1 billion (31 December 2007)
|
Market value of publicly traded shares | | $6.671 billion (31 December 2008) $6.793 billion (31 December 2007) $3.61 billion (31 December 2006)
|
Economic aid - recipient | | $1.321 billion (2005)
|
Public debt(% of GDP) | | 39.4% of GDP (2008 est.) 43% of GDP (2004 est.)
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Agriculture - products | | rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry
|
Industries | | cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar
|
Industrial production growth rate(%) | | 6.9% (2008 est.)
|
Current account balance | | $1.032 billion (2008 est.) $856.8 million (2007 est.)
|
Exports | | $15.44 billion (2008 est.) $12.47 billion (2007 est.)
|
Exports - commodities(%) | | garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood
|
Exports - partners(%) | | US 21%, Germany 13.2%, UK 8.6%, France 6.3%, Netherlands 4.7% (2008)
|
Imports | | $21.51 billion (2008 est.) $16.67 billion (2007 est.)
|
Imports - commodities(%) | | machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement
|
Imports - partners(%) | | China 14.7%, India 14.7%, Kuwait 7.5%, Singapore 7.1%, Japan 4.1% (2008)
|
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | | $5.789 billion (31 December 2008 est.) $5.278 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
|
Debt - external | | $22.83 billion (31 December 2008 est.) $21.23 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | | $5.971 billion (31 December 2008 est.) $5.261 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | | $97 million (31 December 2008 est.)
|
Exchange rates | | taka (BDT) per US dollar - 68.554 (2008 est.), 69.893 (2007), 69.031 (2006), 64.328 (2005), 59.513 (2004)
|
Currency (code) | | taka (BDT)
|
Telephones - main lines in use | | 1.39 million (2009)
|
Telephones - mobile cellular | | 45.75 million (2009)
|
Telephone system | | general assessment: inadequate for a modern country; fixed-line telephone density remains less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone subscribership has been increasing rapidly and has reached 30 per 100 persons domestic: modernizing; introducing digital systems; trunk systems include VHF and UHF microwave radio relay links, and some fiber-optic cable in cities international: country code - 880; landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-4 fiber-optic submarine cable system that provides links to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia; satellite earth stations - 6; international radiotelephone communications and landline service to neighboring countries (2008)
|
Internet country code | | .bd
|
Internet users | | 556,000 (2008)
|
Airports | | 17 (2009)
|
Pipelines(km) | | gas 2,597 km (2008)
|
Roadways(km) | | total: 239,226 km paved: 22,726 km unpaved: 216,500 km (2003)
|
Ports and terminals | | Chittagong, Mongla Port
|
Military branches | | Bangladesh Defense Force: Bangladesh Army (Sena Bahini), Bangladesh Navy (Noh Bahini, BN), Bangladesh Air Force (Biman Bahini, BAF) (2009)
|
Military service age and obligation(years of age) | | 16 years of age for voluntary military service; 17 years of age for officers (both with parental consent); conscription legally possible in emergency, but has never been implemented (2008)
|
Manpower available for military service | | males age 16-49: 41,199,340 (2008 est.)
|
Manpower fit for military service | | males age 16-49: 24,946,041 females age 16-49: 31,409,069 (2009 est.)
|
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually | | male: 1,538,865 female: 1,666,670 (2009 est.)
|
Military expenditures(% of GDP) | | 1.5% of GDP (2006)
|
Disputes - international | | discussions with India remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, exchange territory for 51 small Bangladeshi exclaves in India and 111 small Indian exclaves in Bangladesh, allocate divided villages, and stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's fencing and walling off high-traffic sections of the porous boundary; a joint Bangladesh-India boundary commission resurveyed and reconstructed 92 missing pillars in 2007; dispute with India over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; after 21 years, Bangladesh resumes talks with Burma on delimiting a maritime boundary
|
Refugees and internally displaced persons | | refugees (country of origin): 26,268 (Burma) IDPs: 65,000 (land conflicts, religious persecution) (2007)
|
Electricity - production(kWh) | | 22.99 billion kWh (2007 est.)
|
Electricity - production by source(%) | | fossil fuel: 93.7% hydro: 6.3% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001)
|
Electricity - consumption(kWh) | | 21.38 billion kWh (2007 est.)
|
Electricity - exports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
|
Electricity - imports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
|
Oil - production(bbl/day) | | 6,426 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
Oil - consumption(bbl/day) | | 95,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
Oil - exports(bbl/day) | | 2,612 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
Oil - imports(bbl/day) | | 87,660 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
Oil - proved reserves(bbl) | | 28 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
|
Natural gas - production(cu m) | | 17.9 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
Natural gas - consumption(cu m) | | 17.9 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
Natural gas - exports(cu m) | | 0 cu m (2008)
|
Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m) | | 141.6 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
|
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%) | | less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
|
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | | 12,000 (2007 est.)
|
HIV/AIDS - deaths | | fewer than 500 (2007 est.)
|
Major infectious diseases | | degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations water contact disease: leptospirosis animal contact disease: rabies note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)
|
Literacy(%) | | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 47.9% male: 54% female: 41.4% (2001 Census)
|
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)(years) | | total: 8 years male: 8 years female: 8 years (2004)
|
Education expenditures(% of GDP) | | 2.7% of GDP (2005)
|