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Bangladesh-The Zia Regime and Its Aftermath, 1977-82





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In the opinion of many observers, Zia, although ruthless with his opponents, was the nation's best leader since independence. A dapper military officer, he transformed himself into a charismatic and popular political figure. Once described as having an air of "serene hesitancy and assured authority," Zia had boundless energy and spent much of his time traveling throughout the country. Zia preached the "politics of hope," continually urging all Bangladeshis to work harder and to produce more. Unlike Mujib, Zia utilized whatever talent he could muster to spur on the economy, and he did not discriminate, as Mujib had, against civil servants who had not fully participated in the freedom struggle. Zia was a well-known figure who first emerged nationally during the independence struggle. His "Z Force" (Z for Zia) had been the first to announce the independence of Bangladesh from a captured radio station in Chittagong.

Zia also tried to integrate the armed forces, giving repatriates a status appropriate to their qualifications and seniority. This angered some of the freedom fighters, who had rapidly reached high positions. Zia deftly dealt with the problem officers by sending them on diplomatic missions abroad. Zia made repatriate Major General Hussain Muhammad Ershad the deputy army chief of staff. Having consolidated his position in the army, Zia became president on April 21, 1977, when Sayem resigned on the grounds of "ill health." Zia now held the dominant positions in the country and seemed to be supported by a majority of Bangladeshis.

In May 1977, with his power base increasingly secure, Zia drew on his popularity to promote a nineteen-point political and economic program. Zia focused on the need to boost Bangladeshi production, especially in food and grains, and to integrate rural development through a variety of programs, of which population planning was the most important. He heeded the advice of international lending agencies and launched an ambitious rural development program in 1977, which included a highly visible and popular food-for-work program.

Fortified with his manifesto, Zia faced the electorate in a referendum on his continuance in office. The results of what Zia called his "exercise of the democratic franchise," showed that 88.5 percent of the electorate turned out and that 98.9 percent voted for Zia. Although some doubts were cast on how fairly the referendum was conducted, Zia was, nonetheless, a popular leader with an agenda most of the country endorsed. Zia consciously tried to change the military bearing of his government, eventually transferring most of the portfolios held by military officers to civilians. Continuing the process of giving his regime a nonmilitary appearance, in June 1977 he chose as his vice president Supreme Court justice Abdus Sattar, a civilian who had long been involved in Bengali politics.

One of the most important tasks Zia faced was to change the direction of the country. Zia altered the Constitution's ideological statement on the fundamental principles, in particular changing the Mujibist emphasis on secularism to "complete trust and faith in almighty Allah." While distancing Bangladesh from India, Zia sought to improve ties with other Islamic nations. Throughout his regime, Zia pursued an active foreign policy, and the legacy of his efforts continued to bear fruit in the late 1980s. In 1980 Zia proposed a conference for the seven nations of the subcontinent (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) to discuss the prospects for regional cooperation in a number of fields. This initiative was successful in August 1983 when the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC-- see Glossary) was established.

Zia's administration reestablished public order, which had deteriorated during the Mujib years. Special civil and military tribunals dealt harshly with the multitudes of professional bandits, smugglers, and guerrilla bands. A continuing problem with one of these armed groups led by Kader "Tiger" Siddiqi, a one-time freedom fighter and former enlisted man in the Pakistan Army, was eased when the Janata Party came to power in India in early 1977. The new Indian prime minister, Morarji Desai, discontinued the assistance and sanctuary that Indira Gandhi's government had given to pro-Mujib rebels working against the government.

President Zia's efforts to quiet the military--divided and politicized since independence--were not entirely successful. In late September 1977, Japanese Red Army terrorists hijacked a Japan Air Lines airplane and forced it to land in Dhaka. On September 30, while the attention of the government was riveted on this event, a mutiny broke out in Bogra. Although the mutiny was quickly quelled on the night of October 2, a second mutiny occurred in Dhaka. The mutineers unsuccessfully attacked Zia's residence, captured Dhaka Radio for a short time, and killed a number of air force officers at Dhaka International Airport (present-day Zia International Airport), where they were gathered for negotiations with the hijackers. The revolts, which attracted worldwide coverage, were dismissed by the government as a conflict between air force enlisted men and officers regarding pay and service conditions (see Organization of the Armed Forces , ch. 5). The army quickly put down the rebellion, but the government was severely shaken. The government intelligence network had clearly failed, and Zia promptly dismissed both the military and the civilian intelligence chiefs. Three of the aspirants to the army chief of staff post, at the time held by Zia, were also removed; in 1981 one of them, Major General Muhammad Manzur Ahmed, was to lead the coup that resulted in the assassination of Zia.

After the Dhaka mutiny, Zia continued with his plans for political normalization, insisting on being called "president" rather than "major general" and prohibiting his military colleagues from holding both cabinet and military positions. In April 1978, Zia announced that elections would be held to "pave the way to democracy," adding that the Constitution would be amended to provide for an independent judiciary as well as a "sovereign parliament." Zia also lifted the ban on political parties. He was supported by a "national front," whose main party was the Jatiyo Ganatantrik Dal (National Democratic Party). As the candidate of the Jatiyo Ganatantrik Dal-led Nationalist Front, Zia won overwhelmingly, taking 76.7 percent of the vote against a front led by General M.A.G. Osmany, the leader of the Mukti Bahini during the war. Shortly after, Zia expanded the Jatiyo Ganatantrik Dal to include major portions of the parties in the Nationalist Front. His new party was named the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and was headed by Sattar. Parliamentary elections followed in February 1979. After campaigning by Zia, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won 207 of the 300 seats in Parliament with about 44 percent of the vote.

Zia was assassinated in Chittagong on May 30, 1981, in a plot allegedly masterminded by Major General Manzur, the army commander in Chittagong. Manzur had earlier been chief of the general staff and had been transferred to Chittagong in the aftermath of the October 1977 mutiny. He was scheduled for a new transfer to a noncommand position in Dhaka and was reportedly disappointed over this. The army, under its chief of staff, Major General Ershad, remained loyal to the Dhaka government and quickly put down the rebellion, killing Manzur. In the trials that followed, a sizable number of officers and enlisted men received the death penalty for complicity.

After Zia's assassination, Vice President Sattar became acting president and, as the Constitution stipulates, called for new elections for president within 180 days. Although there was some speculation that Zia's widow, Begum Khalida Ziaur Rahman, and Mujib's daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, would be candidates, Sattar ran against a number of political unknowns in the November election and won the presidential election with two-thirds of the vote.

Sattar was an elderly man who his critics thought to be ineffective, but his greatest weakness, in the eyes of the military, was that he was a civilian. Although Zia had downplayed his own military background, given up his position of army chief of staff, and adopted civilian dress and mannerisms, he maintained strong links with the armed services. Immediately following the 1981 election, Ershad pushed Sattar for a constitutional role for the military in the governance of the country. After initial resistance, Sattar, faced with the prospect of a coup, agreed to set up the National Security Council in January 1982 with the president, vice president, and prime minister representing the civilian side and the three service chiefs representing the military. In a last attempt to limit the influence of the military, Sattar relieved a number of military officers from duty in the government.

Sattar's decision to curtail military influence in the government provoked an immediate response from Ershad. On March 24, 1982, Ershad dismissed Sattar, dissolved the cabinet and the Parliament, and assumed full powers under martial law. Echoing the words of many past military leaders, Ershad announced that the military, as the only organized power in the nation, had been forced to take over until elections could be held.

Ershad almost immediately assumed the title of "president of the ministers," or prime minister, but to many Bangladeshis he was a usurper, one who overthrew a legitimately elected president and who would reverse the slow liberalization of Bangladeshi politics--the "politics of hope" begun earlier by Zia. The events of March 1982 reflected much of the tumultuous history of the country and, many critics agreed, foreshadowed a turbulent future for the struggling nation of Bangladesh (see The Ershad Period , ch. 4).

                      *     *     *

Although Bangladesh is a young nation state, a number of good general histories are available that cover the period from its painful birth to the late 1980s. These include Charles Peter O'Donnell's Bangladesh: Biography of a Muslim Nation; Talukder Maniruzzaman's The Bangladesh Revolution and Its Aftermath; Marcus F. Franda's Bangladesh: The First Decade; Craig Baxter's concise Bangladesh: A New Nation in an Old Setting; and Anthony Mascarenhas's Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood. There are numerous books that deal with Bangladesh's preindependence past as East Pakistan, as part of the British and Mughal empires of India, and as the eastern part of Bengal, a cultural entity reaching back to antiquity. A sampling of some of the excellent general works available might include A.L Basham's masterpiece, The Wonder That Was India Romila Thapar's; A History of India; by Percival Spear's India: A Modern History; Ramesh Chandra Majumdar's The History of Bengal; and Shahid Javed Burki's Pakistan: A Nation in the Making. For those seeking a comprehensive bibliographic index regarding works covering Bangladesh and its historic role in South Asia, the Bibliography of Asian Studies should be consulted. (For further information and complete citations, see Bibliography.)

Data as of September 1988



BackgroundEuropeans 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.
LocationSouthern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India
Area(sq km)total: 143,998 sq km
land: 130,168 sq km
water: 13,830 sq km
Geographic coordinates24 00 N, 90 00 E
Land boundaries(km)total: 4,246 km
border countries: Burma 193 km, India 4,053 km

Coastline(km)580 km

Climatetropical; mild winter (October to March); hot, humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October)

Elevation extremes(m)lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Keokradong 1,230 m
Natural resourcesnatural gas, arable land, timber, coal
Land use(%)arable land: 55.39%
permanent crops: 3.08%
other: 41.53% (2005)

Irrigated land(sq km)47,250 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources(cu km)1,210.6 cu km (1999)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)total: 79.4 cu km/yr (3%/1%/96%)
per capita: 560 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazardsdroughts; cyclones; much of the country routinely inundated during the summer monsoon season
Environment - current issuesmany 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
Environment - international agreementsparty 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
Geography - notemost 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
Population156,050,883 (July 2009 est.)
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.)
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.)
Urbanization(%)urban population: 27% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 3.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
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.)
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.)
Nationalitynoun: Bangladeshi(s)
adjective: Bangladeshi
Ethnic groups(%)Bengali 98%, other 2% (includes tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims) (1998)

Religions(%)Muslim 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998)
Languages(%)Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English

Country nameconventional 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 typeparliamentary democracy
Capitalname: Dhaka
geographic coordinates: 23 43 N, 90 24 E
time difference: UTC+6 (11 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions6 divisions; Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet
Constitution4 November 1972; effective 16 December 1972; suspended following coup of 24 March 1982; restored 10 November 1986; amended many times

Legal systembased on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage18 years of age; universal
Executive branchchief 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

Legislative branchunicameral 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

Judicial branchSupreme Court (the chief justices and other judges are appointed by the president)

Political pressure groups and leadersAdvocacy 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
International organization participationADB, 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
Flag descriptiongreen 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 - overviewThe 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 force70.86 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 index33.2 (2005)
33.6 (1996)
Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP)24.3% of GDP (2008 est.)
Budgetrevenues: $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.)
Agriculture - productsrice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry
Industriescotton 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 ratestaka (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 use1.39 million (2009)
Telephones - mobile cellular45.75 million (2009)
Telephone systemgeneral 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 users556,000 (2008)
Airports17 (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 terminalsChittagong, Mongla Port
Military branchesBangladesh 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 servicemales age 16-49: 41,199,340 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military servicemales age 16-49: 24,946,041
females age 16-49: 31,409,069 (2009 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annuallymale: 1,538,865
female: 1,666,670 (2009 est.)
Military expenditures(% of GDP)1.5% of GDP (2006)
Disputes - internationaldiscussions 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 personsrefugees (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/AIDS12,000 (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deathsfewer than 500 (2007 est.)
Major infectious diseasesdegree 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)








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