Bangladesh emerged as an independent country on 16 December 1971. Its official name is the ‘People’s Republic of Bangladesh’. Dhaka is the capital of the Republic and Bangla is the state language. The Independence and National Day of Bangladesh is 26 March.

The population of the country currently stands at around 126 million. About 80 percent of the people live in rural areas. Sixty percent of the people depend on agriculture for their livelihood.

The four major religions in the country are Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity. The Muslims constitute about 88% of the population and Hindus about 10%. The constitution guarantees religious and cultural freedom to all citizens of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is a unitary, independent and sovereign republic comprising three basic organs: the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary. The President is the Head of State and is elected by the members of Parliament. The President acts in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister.

Bangladesh has primarily an agrarian economy. Agriculture is the single largest sector in the economy producing about 30% of the country’s GDP and employing around 60% of the total labour force. The country has a considerable number of large, medium and small-sized industries in both the public and private sectors based on both indigenous and imported raw materials. Among them are jute, cotton, textiles, fertilizer, engineering, shipbuilding, steel, oil-refinery, paper, newsprint, sugar, chemicals, cement and leather.