Bangladesh appeared on the world map as an independent and sovereign state on December 16,1971 following the victory at the War of Liberation with Pakistan, Bangladesh is member of the United Nations (UN) and its various specialized bodies and agencies including ESCAP. Bangladesh is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and Organization of Islamic countries (OIC) including their various affiliated organs. Bangladesh has multiparty parliamentary from of democracy, where the Prime Minister is the head of the Government. The 330 seat National Parliament, known as the Jatiya Sangshad has a normal term of 5 years. The constitutional Head of state is the President. Bangladesh, which has a thousand years of recorded history, and is well known for its music, poetry and painting.


 The country has a total area of 1,47,570 sq. km. It is a deltaic plain, cress-crossed by a number of mighty rivers like the Padma-Ganga, Brahmputra-Jamuna, Meghna and their tributaries and distributaries. Bangladesh lies between 20.240-60.380 N latitude and 88.010-92 .500 E longitudes. It is fenced by the Bay of Bangle on the south and by India on the north, east and the west. There is a small strip of frontier with Myanmar (Burma) on the southeastern edge. Located in one of the wettest regions of the world, Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon climate characterized by rain bearing winds, warm temperatures and high humidity. The country has mainly four seasons: Winter (Dec-Feb), summer (Mar-May), Monsoon (June-Sept), and Autumn (Oct-Nov). Bangladesh has been subject to climatic extremities. Especially during summer and Monsoon, tropical cyclones, storms and tidal bores cause. This is a land of 126 million people comprising 86.6% Muslims, 12.1% Hindus, 0.8% Buddhists, 0.7% Christians and others. Over 98% of the people speak in Bangla, although English is widely used. The countries divided into six administrative divisions namely Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshshi, Barisal & Sylhet. A division is composed of a number of districts. Altogether there are 64 districts in Bangladesh. The districts are further divided into 490 thanas. Several union councils constitutes a thana and there are 15-20 villages is each thana. The local government is conducted by elected bodies known is urban areas as pouroshavas (Municipality) and in rural areas as union porishads, headed by an elected chairman. Dhaka is the capital and the largest metropolitan city of the country.


Economic development has always been constrained mainly by large population and one of the highest densities of the world (Over 830 persons a square km). The population growth rate is over 2% a year despite high government priority given to population control and family planning.


Development has also been impeded by a series of external shocks and recurring natural disasters like cyclone, floods etc.

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