Bangladesh

Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônoprojatontri Bangladesh) is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma (Myanmar) to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. Together with the Indian state of West Bengal, it makes up the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. The name Bangladesh means "Country of Bengal" in the official Bengali language.

The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal and India in 1947, when the region became the eastern wing of the newly formed Pakistan. However, it was separated from the western wing by 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) across India. Political and linguistic discrimination as well as economic neglect led to popular agitations against West Pakistan, which led to the war for independence in 1971 and the establishment of Bangladesh. After independence the new state endured famines, natural disasters and widespread poverty, as well as political turmoil and military coups. The restoration of democracy in 1991 has been followed by relative calm and economic progress.

Bangladesh is the seventh most populous country in the world and is among the most densely populated countries in the world with a high poverty rate. However, per-capita (inflation-adjusted) GDP has more than doubled since 1975, and the poverty rate has fallen by 20% since the early 1990s. The country is listed among the "Next Eleven" economies. Dhaka and other urban centers have been the driving force behind this growth.

Geographically, the country straddles the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and is subject to annual monsoon floods and cyclones. The government is a parliamentary democracy; however, political rule was suspended under emergency law for two years from 11 January 2007 to 17 December 2008. Bangladesh is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the OIC,SAARC, BIMSTEC, and the D-8. As the World Bank notes in its July 2005 Country Brief, the country has made significant progress in human development in the areas of literacy, gender parity in schooling and reduction of population growth. However, Bangladesh continues to face a number of major challenges, including widespread political and bureaucratic corruption, and economic competition relative to the world.

Garment industry
Bangladesh has a large garment industry employing millions of workers, mostly young women, in thousands of factories at very low wages and poor, even dangerous, working conditions. The minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh is not sufficient to buy the food for one adult. This situation can exist because most garment workers are women who reside on small subsistence farms. As of 2012 wages remained low for the 3 million people employed in the industry, but labor unrest was increasing despite vigorous government action to enforce labor peace through a brutal special police recruited from army veterans. Owners of textile firms and their political allies were a powerful political influence in Bangladesh.

External links and further reading

 * "Enemies of the Nation or Human Rights Defenders? Fighting Poverty Wages in Bangladesh." writing by Bjorn Claeson, editing and proofreading by Liana Foxvog and Lawrence Reichard, design by Alexandra Harris, program of SweatFree Communities, International Labor Rights Forum, with the support of the 21st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund, November 2010, revised December 2010
 * The New York Times series on the Garment industry in Bangladesh:
 * "Export Powerhouse Feels Pangs of Labor Strife"
 * "Fighting for Bangladesh Labor, and Ending Up in Pauper’s Grave"
 * Slideshow