Bangladesh By the Numbers

I know, I know -- there are lies, there are damned lies, and then there are statistics. Still, a few basic numbers can tell you a lot about a place. Here are some numbers about Bangladesh:

* Bangladesh is home to around 147 million people.

* Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world (behind only city-states like Singapore ). A population about half the size of the U.S. population lives in a country that’s a little smaller than Iowa.

* At current birth rates, Bangladesh’s population will exceed 220 million by 2050.

* With 700,000 people moving here every year, Dhaka is the fastest-growing megacity in the world and will be the second-largest city in the world (after Mexico City ) by 2015.

* Dhaka has close to 9,000 people per square kilometer. By comparison, Patrick’s childhood home of Prince George County, VA has 43 people per square kilometer.

* One-third of the population is 14 years old or younger. That’s 49 million children.

* Thirty-six percent of Bangladeshis live on less than $1 (67 taka) a day.

* A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of uncooked rice costs 20-40 taka, depending on quality.

* Rent for a 10-foot-by-10-foot concrete room in a communal slum neighborhood in north Dhaka costs 4,000-6,000 taka per month.

* Recently an increase in the monthly minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh was proposed: $25 (1675 taka).

* At the standard work schedule of 10-12 hours a day, six days a week in a garment factory, the new minimum wage equates to around 10 cents an hour.

* Ninety percent of Bangladeshi garment workers are women.

* Ninety percent of births in Bangladesh occur in the home.

* Almost ninety percent of births take place without a skilled attendant.

* About 12,000 Bangladeshi women die in childbirth every year.

* Eighty-eight of 1,000 Bangladeshi children die before the age of five, mostly from diarrhea or acute respiratory infections. Half of those deaths are newborns.

* Bangladesh has one of the highest tuberculosis rates in the world, with about 300,000 new cases reported every year.

* HIV prevalence is at less than 1% among most high-risk groups, except for intravenous drug users, where the prevalence is 9%.

* Bangladesh is 90% Muslim, with the rest being Hindu (and a scattering of Christians, Buddhists, and animists).

* Only 43% of all Bangladeshis can read and write.

* Bangladeshis working in other countries (mostly construction workers in the Middle East) send more than $1.5 billion dollars back to their families in Bangladesh every year.

* About 300,000 Bangladeshis use the Internet.

* More than three million Bangladeshis have mobile phones.

* There are 400,000 bicycle rickshaws in Dhaka.