Bangladesh is a development success story: economic growth has averaged 6% since 2003 and poverty * Results less than 1 million are rounded to the nearest thousand. Results over 1 million are rounded to the nearest hundred thousand. has halved between 1990 and 2010. Whilst economic growth has led to some development through agricultural productivity, garment exports and remittances, Bangladesh still has 37 million people living in poverty, with 21 million of those living in extreme poverty. Bangladesh is also highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. Unstable politics and poor governance risk slowing things down, as do social problems like violence against women, early marriage and signs of rising extremism. Since August 2017 more than 688,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh, resulting in a major humanitarian crisis. The UK is committed to working with the government of Bangladesh and the international community to address the immediate and medium-term needs of the Rohingya people and vulnerable host-communities.

FCDO Profile

Note: Many country summaries were written prior to the creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and are being incrementally refreshed.