69 Facts About Bangladesh

The new state of Bangladesh became the first constitutionally secular state in South Asia in 1972.

Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic based on the Westminster system.

Bangladesh has been a leader within the Climate Vulnerable Forum.

The term Bangladesh was often written as two words, Bangla Desh, in the past.

Stone Age tools found in Bangladesh indicate human habitation for over 20, 000 years, and remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4, 000 years.

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The oldest inscription in Bangladesh was found in Mahasthangarh and dates from the 3rd century BCE.

Ancient Buddhist and Hindu states which ruled Bangladesh included the Vanga, Samatata and Pundra kingdoms, the Mauryan and Gupta Empires, the Varman dynasty, Shashanka's kingdom, the Khadga and Candra dynasties, the Pala Empire, the Sena dynasty, the Harikela kingdom and the Deva dynasty.

Seafarers in the Bay of Bengal were modern Bangladesh is located in, have been sailing and trading with Southeast Asia and exported Buddhist and Hindu cultures to the region since the early Christian era.

Bangladesh formed the Presidency of Fort William, which administered the region until 1858.

Several towns in Bangladesh participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and pledged allegiance to the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, who was later exiled to neighbouring Burma.

Global public opinion turned against Pakistan as news of the atrocities spread; the Bangladesh movement was supported by prominent political and cultural figures in the West, including Ted Kennedy, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Victoria Ocampo and Andre Malraux.

The Provisional Government of Bangladesh was established on 17 April 1971, converting the 469 elected members of the Pakistani national assembly and East Pakistani provincial assembly into the Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the UN, the OIC and the Non-Aligned Movement, and Rahman strengthened ties with India.

Bangladesh was governed by a military junta led by the Chief Martial Law Administrator for three years.

Bangladesh governed with four successive prime ministers and a parliament dominated by his Jatiyo Party.

Bangladesh is a small, lush country in South Asia, located on the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh is called the "Land of Rivers"; as it is home to over 57 trans-boundary rivers.

Bangladesh is divided into eight administrative divisions, each named after their respective divisional headquarters: Barisal, Chittagong (officially Chattogram), Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Sylhet.

In September 1998, Bangladesh saw the most severe flooding in modern history, after which two-thirds of the country went underwater, along with a death toll of 1, 000.

Bangladesh is recognised to be one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

Bangladesh is located in the Indomalayan realm, and lies within four terrestrial ecoregions: Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests, Mizoram–Manipur–Kachin rain forests, Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests, and Sundarbans mangroves.

The Bangladesh Plain is famous for its fertile alluvial soil which supports extensive cultivation.

Central Bangladesh includes the plainland Sal forest running along with the districts of Gazipur, Tangail and Mymensingh.

Bangladesh has an abundance of wildlife in its forests, marshes, woodlands and hills.

Northern and eastern Bangladesh is home to the Asian elephant, hoolock gibbon, Asian black bear and oriental pied hornbill.

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Bangladesh has one of the largest populations of Irrawaddy dolphins and Ganges dolphins.

The Sundarbans tiger project and the Bangladesh Bear Project are among the key initiatives to strengthen conservation.

Bangladesh is a de jure representative democracy under its constitution, with a Westminster-style unitary parliamentary republic that has universal suffrage.

Bangladesh experienced a two party system between 1990 and 2014, when the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party alternated in power.

In 2022, the active personnel strength of the Bangladesh Army was around 250, 000, excluding the Air Force and the Navy.

For many years, Bangladesh has been the world's largest contributor to UN peacekeeping forces.

Bangladesh is vital to ensuring stability and security in northeast India.

In 2019, Bangladesh ratified the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Bangladesh joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1972 and the United Nations in 1974.

At the WTO, Bangladesh has used the dispute resolution mechanism to settle trade disputes with India and other countries.

Bangladesh pioneered the creation of SAARC, which has been the preeminent forum for regional diplomacy among the countries of the Indian subcontinent.

In recent years, Bangladesh has focused on promoting regional trade and transport links with support from the World Bank.

Post-independent Bangladesh has continued to have a problematic relationship with Pakistan, mainly due to its denial of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide.

Bangladesh plays a major role in global climate diplomacy as a leader of the Climate Vulnerable Forum.

Bangladesh joined the Convention against Torture in 1998; but it enacted its first anti-torture law, the Torture and Custodial Death Act, in 2013.

Amnesty International Prisoners of Conscience from Bangladesh have included Saber Hossain Chowdhury and Shahidul Alam.

Bangladesh is ranked "partly free" in Freedom House's Freedom in the World report, but its press freedom has deteriorated from "free" to "not free" in recent years due to increasing pressure from the authoritarian government.

Bangladesh was ranked 96th among 163 countries in the 2022 Global Peace Index.

However, Bangladesh recognises the third gender and accords limited rights for transgender people.

Bangladesh was ranked 146th among 180 countries on Transparency International's 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index.

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Bangladesh is the second largest economy in South Asia after India.

In 2009, Bangladesh was experiencing daily blackouts several times a day.

Bangladesh's economy is dominated by family-owned conglomerates and small and medium sized businesses.

Bangladesh has a labor force of roughly 70 million, which is the world's seventh-largest; with an unemployment rate of 5.

Bangladesh continues to have huge untapped reserves of natural gas, particularly in its maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal.

Government-owned companies in Bangladesh produce about half of the electricity generated there.

Bangladesh was constitutionally proclaimed as the first secular state of South Asia in 1972.

Universities in Bangladesh are of three general types: public, private (privately owned universities) and international (operated and funded by international organisations).

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the largest institutional healthcare provider in Bangladesh, and contains two divisions: Health Service Division and Medical Education And Family Welfare Division.

However, healthcare facilities in Bangladesh are considered less than adequate, although they have improved as the economy has grown and poverty levels have decreased significantly.

Bangladesh is a key source market for medical tourism for various countries, mainly India, due to its citizens dissatisfaction and distrust over their own healthcare system.

Malnutrition is a major and persistent problem in Bangladesh, mainly affecting the rural regions, more than half of the population suffers from it.

Oldest evidence of writing in Bangladesh is the Mahasthan Brahmi Inscription, which dates back to the 3rd century BCE.

Sixty Dome Mosque was the largest medieval mosque built in Bangladesh and is a fine example of Turkic-Bengali architecture.

The zamindar gentry in Bangladesh built numerous Indo-Saracenic palaces and country mansions, such as the Ahsan Manzil, Tajhat Palace, Dighapatia Palace, Puthia Rajbari and Natore Rajbari.

Theatre in Bangladesh includes various forms with a history dating back to the 4th century CE.

The dance traditions of Bangladesh include indigenous tribal and Bengali dance forms, as well as classical Indian dances, including the Kathak, Odissi and Manipuri dances.

Bangladesh has a rich tradition of Indian classical music, which uses instruments like the sitar, tabla, sarod and santoor.

Bangladesh has a vast spread of desserts, including distinctive sweets such as the roshogolla, roshmalai, chomchom, sondesh, mishti doi and kalojaam, and jilapi.

Bangladesh reached the quarter-final of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, the semi-final of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and they reached the final of the Asia Cup 3 times – in 2012, 2016 and 2018.

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In 2011, Bangladesh co-hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 with India and Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh hosted the Asia Cup Cricket Tournament in 2000, 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Federation of Film Societies of Bangladesh is the parent organisation of the film society movement of Bangladesh.

The World Literature Centre, founded by Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Abdullah Abu Sayeed, is noted for operating numerous mobile libraries across Bangladesh and was awarded the UNESCO Jon, Amos Comenius Medal.