Since its transition to democracy in the early 1990s, Bangladesh has made significant
progress in terms of socio-economic development and growth. The country has benefitted
from a combination of macroeconomic stability, GDP growth, increased revenues from
remittance, continued reductions in levels of poverty and extreme poverty, and notable
progress against the majority of Millennium Development Goals targets. Bangladesh is now
ranked 142 out of 187 countries in the Human Development Index, and the UN has placed it
among the 18 countries making the fastest progress in human development.
2. Despite the progress, key challenges remain. The population continues to grow while the land
reduces. Recent estimates predict that the county will lose 11% of its land by 2050. Moreover
with population growth, the absolute number of people living in poverty and extreme poverty
remains very high; inequality continues to rise; the spatial distribution of poverty is uneven;
and Bangladesh remains one of the most food insecure countries in the world.
3. More recently however the challenge which causes most concern is Bangladesh’s poor record
on governance, corruption and the protection of social-political rights. The political
environment in Bangladesh is characterised by a partisan and winner takes all mentality;
political opposition and dissent is increasingly met with force and violence, and the
accountability of duty bearers to citizens is very weak.