Bangladesh

Country	Bangladesh
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Capital	name: Dhaka geographic coordinates: 23 43 N, 90 24 E time difference: UTC+6 (11 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Population	156,050,883 (July 2009 est.)
GMT	+6
Location	Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India
Area	total: 144,000 sq km land: 133,910 sq km water: 10,090 sq km
Ethnic groups	Bengali 98%, other 2% (includes tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims) (1998)
Religions	Muslim 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998)
Languages	Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English
Government type	parliamentary democracy
National holiday	Independence Day, 26 March (1971); note - 26 March 1971 is the date of independence from West Pakistan, 16 December 1971 is Victory Day and commemorates the official creation of the state of Bangladesh
Constitution	4 November 1972, effective 16 December 1972; suspended following coup of 24 March 1982, restored 10 November 1986; amended many times
Legal system	based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Background	Europeans began to set up trading posts in the area of Bangladesh in the 16th century; eventually the British came to dominate the region and it became part of British India. In 1947, West Pakistan and East Bengal (both primarily Muslim) separated from India (largely Hindu) and jointly became the new country of Pakistan. East Bengal became East Pakistan in 1955, but the awkward arrangement of a two-part country with its territorial units separated by 1,600 km left the Bengalis marginalized and dissatisfied. East Pakistan seceded from its union with West Pakistan in 1971 and was renamed Bangladesh. A military-backed caretaker regime suspended planned parliamentary elections in January 2007 in an effort to reform the political system and root out corruption; the regime has pledged new democratic elections by the end of 2008. About a third of this extremely poor country floods annually during the monsoon rainy season, hampering economic development.
Internet country code	.bd