Bangladesh

A

Principal Cities

Among the major cities of Bangladesh are Dhaka, the capital, with 3,368,940 inhabitants (1991); Chittagong, the leading port, with 1,566,070 inhabitants; Khulna, a rapidly growing center for small-scale industry, with 601,051 inhabitants; Nārāyanganj, the inland port for Dhaka, with 268,952 inhabitants; and Rājshāhi, located in a silk-producing area, with 324,532 inhabitants.

B

Ethnic Groups

More than 98 percent of Bangladesh’s inhabitants are Bengalis, who are largely descended from Indo-Aryans (speakers of the parent language of the Indo-European languages). The Indo-Aryans began to migrate into the Bengal region from the west thousands of years ago and mixed within Bengal with various indigenous groups. The remainder of the population includes Bihāris, non-Bengali Muslims who migrated from India (principally from the state of Bihār) after the 1947 partition, and various indigenous ethnic groups (locally known as tribal groups). Although Bihāris constitute the largest minority group, a large proportion of their original population repatriated to Pakistan after 1971. The Chakmas, who live in the southeastern Chittagong Hill Tracts District, constitute the largest tribal group in Bangladesh. Other tribal groups include the Marmas and Tripuras, who also live in the Chittagong region; the Garos and Khasis, whose populations in northeastern Bangladesh are the southernmost extensions of tribal groups living in adjacent Indian states; and the Santals, who also live in northeastern Bangladesh and form, with Santals living elsewhere, South Asia’s largest tribal group.

C

Languages

The official language is Bengali, also known as Bangla. It belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family and is, along with Assamese, the most eastern of these languages. Its script is derived from the Devanagari script of Sanskrit. The cultural and national identity of ethnic Bengalis is closely associated with their language. Bengali has two distinct variants—a formal written form that developed during the 16th century, and a more casual spoken form that became an accepted literary form in the 20th century.

Although the vast majority of Bangladeshis speak Bengali, other languages are spoken in the country as well. Urdu, an Indo-Iranian language, is spoken by the Bihāris; Sino-Tibetan languages are spoken by the Garo and Santal peoples, among others; and Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken by the Chakmas, Marmas, and Tripuras in the Chittagong Hill Tracts District. English is widely used in higher education and government.

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D

Religion

Islam, the state religion, is the faith of 88 percent of the population. Almost all of the country’s Muslims adhere to the Sunni branch; however, there are also a small number of Shia Muslims, including members of the Ismaili sect. Hindus make up most of the remainder of the population, but the country also includes small communities of Buddhists, Christians, and animists.

E

Education

Public education in Bangladesh generally follows the model established by the British prior to 1947. The government provides free schooling for the first eight years, including five years of primary education, which is compulsory and begins at age six. While most children are enrolled in primary schools, only 47 percent go on to secondary schools. Poor school attendance contributes to a literacy rate of only 44 percent for Bangladeshis aged 15 and older. Bangladesh lacks sufficient numbers of schools, even though facilities have increased substantially since the 1970s.

Bangladesh has several universities, the largest of which is the University of Dhaka (1921). Others include Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (1962) and Jahangirnagar University (1970), both in Dhaka; Bangladesh Agricultural University (1961) in Mymensingh; the University of Chittagong (1966); and the University of Rājshāhi (1953). Colleges include Bangladesh College of Textile Technology (1950) in Dhaka, and Chittagong Polytechnic Institute (1962). The country’s colleges and universities together enroll more than 500,000 students.