The 2008 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency (ereader iphone .txt) 📖

general: Los Angeles, New York

Diplomatic representation from the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador James F. MORIARTY embassy: Madani Avenue, Baridhara, Dhaka 1212 mailing address: G. P. O. Box 323, Dhaka 1000 telephone: [880] (2) 885-5500 FAX: [880] (2) 882-3744

Flag description:

green field with a large red disk shifted slightly to the hoist side of center; the red disk represents the rising sun and the sacrifice to achieve independence; the green field symbolizes the lush vegetation of Bangladesh

Economy
Bangladesh

Economy - overview:

The economy has grown 5-6% over the past few years despite inefficient state-owned enterprises, delays in exploiting natural gas resources, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed nation. Although more than half of GDP is generated through the service sector, nearly two-thirds of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single-most-important product. Garment exports and remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas, mainly in the Middle East and East Asia, fuel economic growth.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$208.3 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$72.42 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

6.3% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$1,400 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 19% industry: 28.7% services: 52.3% (2007 est.)

Labor force:

69.4 million note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $4.8 billion in 2005-06. (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 63% industry: 11% services: 26% (FY95/96)

Unemployment rate:

2.5% (includes underemployment) (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:

45% (2004 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 3.7% highest 10%: 27.9% (2000)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:

33.4 (2000)

Investment (gross fixed):

24.3% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:

revenues: $7.01 billion expenditures: $9.464 billion (2007 est.)

Fiscal year:

1 July - 30 June

Public debt:

37.4% of GDP (2007 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

9.1% (2007 est.)

Central bank discount rate:

5% (31 December 2007)

Commercial bank prime lending rate:

16% (31 December 2007)

Stock of money:

$8.444 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of quasi money:

$32.4 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of domestic credit:

$40.15 billion (31 December 2007)

Agriculture - products:

rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry

Industries:

cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar

Industrial production growth rate:

8.4% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production:

22.78 billion kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - consumption:

21.37 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - exports:

0 kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - imports:

0 kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - production by source:

fossil fuel: 93.7% hydro: 6.3% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001)

Oil - production:

6,746 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - consumption:

89,940 bbl/day (2006 est.)

Oil - exports:

1,351 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - imports:

83,220 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - proved reserves:

28 million bbl (1 January 2008 est.)

Natural gas - production:

15.7 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:

15.7 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - exports:

0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - imports:

0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:

141.6 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)

Current account balance:

$804.7 million (2007 est.)

Exports:

$12.45 billion (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:

garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood

Exports - partners:

US 23%, Germany 13%, UK 9.1%, France 5.5%, Belgium 4% (2007)

Imports:

$16.67 billion (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities:

machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement

Imports - partners:

China 15%, India 14.3%, Kuwait 8.3%, Singapore 6.2%, Hong Kong 4.2% (2007)

Economic aid - recipient:

$1.321 billion (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

$5.278 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external:

$21.23 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:

$4.971 billion (2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:

$104 million (2007 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares:

$3.61 billion (2006)

Currency (code):

taka (BDT)

Currency code:

BDT

Exchange rates:

taka (BDT) per US dollar - 69.893 (2007), 69.031 (2006), 64.328 (2005), 59.513 (2004), 58.15 (2003)

Communications
Bangladesh

Telephones - main lines in use:

1.187 million (2007)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

34.37 million (2007)

Telephone system:

general assessment: inadequate for a modern country; fixed-line telephone density remains less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone subscribership has been increasing rapidly and is approaching 25 per 100 persons domestic: modernizing; introducing digital systems; trunk systems include VHF and UHF microwave radio relay links, and some fiber-optic cable in cities international: country code - 880; landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-4 fiber-optic submarine cable system that provides links to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia; satellite earth stations - 6; international radiotelephone communications and landline service to neighboring countries (2007)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 15, FM 13, shortwave 2 (2006)

Radios:

6.15 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

15 (1999)

Televisions:

770,000 (1997)

Internet country code:

.bd

Internet hosts:

1,440 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

10 (2000)

Internet users:

500,000 (2007)

Transportation
Bangladesh

Airports:

16 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 15 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 5 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2007)

Pipelines:

gas 2,644 km (2007)

Railways:

total: 2,768 km broad gauge: 946 km 1.676-m gauge narrow gauge: 1,822 km 1.000-m gauge (2006)

Roadways:

total: 239,226 km paved: 22,726 km unpaved: 216,500 km (2003)

Waterways:

8,370 km note: includes up to 3,060 km main cargo routes; network reduced to 5,200 km in dry season (2006)

Merchant marine:

total: 40 by type: bulk carrier 3, cargo 27, container 5, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 4 foreign-owned: 1 (China 1) registered in other countries: 10 (Comoros 2, Honduras 1, Malta 2, Panama 2, Singapore 2, Togo 1) (2008)

Ports and terminals:

Chittagong, Mongla Port

Transportation - note:

the International Maritime Bureau reports the territorial waters of Bangladesh as high risk for armed robbery against ships; numerous commercial vessels have been attacked both at anchor and while underway; crews have been robbed and stores or cargoes stolen

Military
Bangladesh

Military branches:

Bangladesh Defense Force: Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy,
Bangladesh Air Force (Bangladesh Biman Bahini, BAF) (2008)

Military service age and obligation:

16 years of age for voluntary military service; 17 years of age for officers (both with parental consent); conscription legally possible in emergency, but has never been implemented (2008)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 41,199,340 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 31,968,168 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 1,311,850 female: 1,246,012 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

1.5% of GDP (2006)

Transnational Issues
Bangladesh

Disputes - international:

discussions with India remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, exchange territory for 51 small Bangladeshi exclaves in India and 111 small Indian exclaves in Bangladesh, allocate divided villages, and stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's fencing and walling off high-traffic sections of the porous boundary; a joint Bangladesh-India boundary commission resurveyed and reconstructed 92 missing pillars in 2007; dispute with India over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; after 21 years, Bangladesh resumes talks with Burma on delimiting a maritime boundary

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

refugees (country of origin): 26,268 (Burma) IDPs: 65,000 (land conflicts, religious persecution) (2007)

Illicit drugs:

transit country for illegal drugs produced in neighboring countries

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

======================================================================

@Barbados

Introduction
Barbados

Background:

The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in 1627. Slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the 20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the sugar industry in economic importance.

Geography
Barbados

Location:

Caribbean, island in the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela

Geographic coordinates:

13 10 N, 59 32 W

Map references:

Central America and the Caribbean

Area:

total: 431 sq km land: 431 sq km water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:

2.5 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:

0 km

Coastline:

97 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:

tropical; rainy season (June to October)

Terrain:

relatively flat; rises gently to central highland region

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Hillaby 336 m

Natural resources:

petroleum, fish, natural gas

Land use:

arable land: 37.21% permanent crops: 2.33% other: 60.46% (2005)

Irrigated land:

50 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

0.1 cu km (2003)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 0.09 cu km/yr (33%/44%/22%) per capita: 333 cu m/yr (2000)

Natural hazards:

infrequent hurricanes; periodic landslides

Environment - current issues:

pollution of coastal waters from waste disposal by ships; soil erosion; illegal solid waste disposal threatens contamination of aquifers

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

easternmost Caribbean island

People
Barbados

Population:

281,968 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 19.3% (male 27,270/female 27,193) 15-64 years: 71.7% (male 99,357/female 102,683) 65 years and over: 9% (male 9,856/female 15,609) (2008 est.)

Median age:

total: 35.4 years male: 34.2 years female: 36.4 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate:

0.36% (2008 est.)

Birth rate:

12.48 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate:

8.58 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate:

-0.31 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.01 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.63 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

total: 11.05 deaths/1,000 live births male: 12.4 deaths/1,000 live births female: 9.69 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 73.21 years male: 71.2 years female: 75.24 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate:

1.65 children born/woman (2008 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:

1.5% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

2,500 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:

fewer than 200 (2003 est.)

Nationality:

noun: Barbadian(s) or Bajan (colloquial) adjective: Barbadian or Bajan (colloquial)

Ethnic groups:

black 90%, white 4%, Asian and mixed 6%

Religions:

Protestant 63.4% (Anglican 28.3%, Pentecostal 18.7%, Methodist 5.1%, other 11.3%), Roman Catholic 4.2%, other Christian 7%, other 4.8%, none or unspecified 20.6% (2008 est.)

Languages:

English

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school total population: 99.7% male: 99.7% female: 99.7% (2002 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):

total: 13 years male: 13 years female: 14 years (2001)

Education expenditures:

6.9% of GDP (2005)

Government
Barbados