General Information about Bangladesh

Official Name:	People's Republic of Bangladesh
Political system:	Parliamentary democracy: The President is the Head of State while the Government is headed by the Prime Minister
Independence:	26 March 1971
Capital:	Dhaka
Time Zone:	GMT + 6 hours
Administrative Units:	The country is divided into eight Administrative Divisions - Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, Sylhet ,Rangpur and Mymenshingh. Each Division is divided into several administrative districts
Districts:	64
Language:	Bangla is the official language; English, as second language, is widely spoken and used in business communications across the country
Literacy rate:	65.5%
Educational institutions:	Public Universities: 41,Private Universities: 54, Colleges: 3,879,Polytechnic Institutes: 27,Medical Colleges: 63, Dental Colleges: 10, Secondary Schools: 22,293 Primary Schools: 82,218
Principal industries:	Ready-made garments (RMG), pharmaceuticals, cements, garment accessories, chemicals, fertilizers, newsprint, leather and leather goods, ship breaking, ship-building, paper, sugar, jute, oil refining, light engineering, toiletries, processed foods, electrical and electronics, assembling and manufacturing of refrigerator, freezer, LCD and LED television and computers and assembling of jeeps, buses and trucks
Principal exports:	Readymade garments, pharmaceuticals, frozen foods (shrimps), leather, leather products, jute, jute products, tea, ceramic, textile fabrics, home textile, chemical products, handicrafts, newsprint, computer software,IT solutions, light engineering products including bi-cycle, toiletries, processed foods, ocean going vessels, etc
Business hours:	9:00 am to 5:00 pm; Sunday to Thursday; Friday and Saturday are weekly holidays
Best tourist season:	October - March
Temperature:	6 degrees Celsius (lowest), 42.3 degrees Celsius (highest) in 2016
Places of tourist interest:	Dhaka, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Kaptai,Rangamati, Khagrachari, Bandarban, Kuakata, Bogra, Khulna, the Sundarbans, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Dinajpur and Comilla
International airports:	Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet
Domestic airports:	Cox’s Bazar, Jessore, Rajshahi, Syedpur, Barisal, Iswardi, Comilla and Thakurgaon
Seaports	Chittagong ,Mongla and Payra
Radio stations:	State owned Bangladesh Betar, which broadcasts countrywide, has 6 stations in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Rangpur and 2 relay stations in Comilla and Thakurgaon; apart from this, 13 privately owned FM radios, mostly based in Dhaka, are operating in major cities only;there are a number of community radios operating in certain areas of the country
Television stations:	There are 03 state-run TV channels in Bangladesh: 01 terrestrial channel, Bangladesh Television (BTV) and 02 satellite channels; BTV World and Sangsad Television. Besides, there are 39 private satellite TV channels are currently telecasting news and programmes based on cable connections.
Satellite earth stations:	Talibabad (Dhaka), Betbunia (Rangamati)

Geography:

Location:	Between 20°34 and 26°38 north latitude and between 88°01 and 92°41 east longitude
Boundary:	North: India, West: India, South: Bay of Bengal East: India and Myanmar
Area:	147,570 sq. km.( 56,977 sq miles)
Territorial water:	12 nautical miles
Maritime economic zone:	200 nautical miles
Main seasons:	Spring (February-March), Summer (April-June), Monsoon (July-September), Autumn (October-November) and Winter (December-January)
Principal seasonal crops and fruits:	Rice, jute, wheat, tobacco, pulses, sugarcane, oil seeds, spices, vegetables, potatoes, jack-fruit, banana, mango, coconut, pineapple, etc
Natural resources:	Natural gas, coal, limestone, ceramic clay, hard rock, glass sand, etc
Principal rivers:	Padma (Ganges), Meghna, Jamuna, Brahmaputra, Teesta, Surma and Karnaphuli(total 310 rivers including tributaries)

National Demographics:

Total population:	159 million [2015 estimated]
Sex ratio	100.3 males per 100 female
Annual population growth rate:	1.2% (2015 est.)
Population below poverty line:	22.4%
Density (per sq km):	1077
Life expectancy at birth	70.09 years (2014)
Labour force:	80.27 million
Sectoral distribution of labour force:	Agriculture: 45% , Industry: 20.8%,Others: 34%
Electricity generation	15,300 Mega Watt (80% people have access to electricity)
Religion:	Muslims 89.5%, Hindus 9.6%, Buddhists 0.5%, Christians 0.3%, and others 0.1%.
Ethnic groups:	Bengali 98%;there are 27 ethnic minority groups who constitute 1.1% of the total population.

Trade Facts about Bangaldesh

GDP	US$ 229.76 billion (2016)
GDP annual growth rate :	7.05% (2015-16)
GDP per capita (PPP):	US$ 3,400 (2014 est),
GDP per capita (Nominal)	US$ 1466 (2016)
GDP composition by sector	Agriculture - 15.1%, Industry- 26.5%, Services- 53.5% (2014 est.)
Total exports:	US$ 34.26 billion (2015-16)
Major export partners:	US - 16.3%, Germany - 11.8%, UK - 7.7%, France - 4.8%, Netherlands - 4.7%, Spain - 4.4%
Total imports:	US$ 40.03 billion (2015 -16)
Major import partners:	China - 21.9%, India - 14%, Singapore - 5.8%, Malaysia - 5.3%
Total Foreign Direct Investment -FDI:	US$ 2.03 billion (2016)
Export Processing Zones:	08
Special Economic Zones(SEZs):	Government has taken an initiative to introduce 100 SEZs throughout the country. So far, 06 government SEZs are operational and 37 others have acquired land and are under development. 08 non government SEZs are operational and under construction.
Remittances	US$ 14.93 billion in 2015-16 FY
Foreign currency reserves:	32 + billion (December 2016)
Currency:	BDT (1 BDT = US $ 0.01267) (January 2017)
Inflation rate:	5.03%