Country explorer: Bangladesh

Bangladesh has demonstrated remarkable economic resilience and growth, outpacing many of its peers with consistent improvements in GDP per capita, significant reductions in poverty across various thresholds, and maintaining moderate inflation and unemployment rates, signaling a robust transformation from a low-income to a lower-middle-income country.

Bangladesh has witnessed a notable demographic transformation characterized by a steady population growth, a significant reduction in fertility rates from 3.2 to around 2 children per woman, and an increase in life expectancy from approximately 65.8 to over 72 years, reflecting broader trends of improved health outcomes and family planning that align with global lower-middle-income countries, yet with a distinctive resilience and progress in health initiatives.

Bangladesh has seen notable improvements in basic needs, marked by increased access to clean cooking fuels, electricity, safely managed drinking water, and sanitation facilities, reflecting significant progress in public health and infrastructure development, which aligns with trends observed in lower-middle-income countries.

Bangladesh has shown significant progress in human development indicators, notably outpacing many of its peers with improvements in HDI, reduced child mortality, increased literacy rates, and enhanced learning-adjusted years of schooling, signaling profound societal advancement and a focus on human capital development.

Bangladesh has witnessed modest growth in CO₂ emissions per capita aligning with increased electrification and industrial growth, while also experiencing a decline in per capita renewable freshwater resources and forest area, highlighting the environmental challenges parallel to economic development shared among lower-middle-income countries.

Bangladesh has exhibited remarkable growth in technology and innovation, evidenced by a steady increase in internet usage, mobile phone subscriptions, and scientific publications, highlighting its dynamic transition towards becoming a digitally inclusive society in line with other lower-middle-income countries.

Bangladesh has seen gradual but significant societal transformations, marked by a stable low proportion of the foreign-born population, notable improvements in self-reported life satisfaction and gender equality, alongside a continuous decrease in the age dependency ratio, indicating common developmental trajectories with its lower-middle-income peers but with distinctive progress in gender and societal well-being metrics.

Bangladesh has experienced a notable decline in rule of law, increase in corruption perception, reduction in political civil liberties, and erosion of press freedom, indicators reflective of a broader trend of democratic backsliding that contrasts with some of its South Asian peers.