Consider, for example, where most Bangladeshis live.
For generations, the eastern Bengal delta had nurtured a rural society, its bucolic beauty celebrated in songs and poems.
In 1970, nine of ten East Pakistanis still lived in the countryside —a far higher proportion than in our neighbours. People started leaving their villages after independence.
By 2020, Bangladesh had a higher urbanization rate than India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam (Chart 1).
Towns and cities are the places of higher education, centers of governance, and investment in modern economic activities.
That’s why incomes are higher and more amenities are available in urban areas. As the saying goes, lights are brighter in big cities.
Of course, brighter lights require electricity. Even in the early 1990s, only one in every 10 Bangladeshis had access to electricity.
By 2019, nine out of ten did.
Although this is still slightly lower than most of our neighbours, the pace of electrification has been much more rapid than elsewhere in the region (Chart 2).
Even more remarkably, it’s not just the townsfolk that received electricity connections in the past three decades.
In 2019, 89% of the country’s rural population had access to electricity, up from less than 2% a quarter century earlier.
There is, however, a less positive side to this rapid electrification.
A higher proportion of electricity is generated from fossil fuels in Bangladesh than elsewhere in the region (Chart 3).
It is remarkable that a country that is one of the most vulnerable to climate change had less than 0.3% of its electricity from non-hydro renewable sources in 2015.
Also remarkable is the fact that hydroelectric sources played a relatively small role in the electrification process, generating less than 1% of the country’s electricity in 2015.
Of course, the Kaptai dam, the main source of the country’s hydroelectricity, had a far more insidious effect in terms of fomenting ethnic violence in southeastern Bangladesh.
The urbanization and electrification notwithstanding, there are aspects of life where progress has been less rapid than one might have thought.
Take for example how we cook.
Less than one in five Bangladeshi had access to clean cooking oil and technology in 2016, much lower than elsewhere in monsoon Asia (Chart 4).
Or let’s think about children (Chart 5). In 2013, 5% of Bangladeshi children aged between 7 and 14 worked.
Fewer children of that age worked in India and Indonesia. And we aren’t talking about light tasks for pocket money here.
These kids toiled for 36 hours a week on average.
As bad as these factlets are, they are nowhere near as shocking as the fact that even in 2019, over 15% of Bangladeshi women aged between 20-24 had their first marriage before turning 15.
Over 15%! In India it was about 5%, in Pakistan less than 4%!
Over the past few decades, rural Bangladeshis moved just not to the towns and cities near them, but many have also travelled across international borders and seas to work in the Gulf, Europe and elsewhere.
Remittances they send back have cushioned the country from macroeconomic shocks, and buoyed living standards of family members in the countryside.
And it is relatively less expensive to send remittances to Bangladesh (Chart 6).
Technology has, of course, played a role in the social transformation.
Mobile financial services, for example, allow individuals a range of consumption and business options that were not feasible only a few years ago.
In 2017, about half of Bangladeshis had an account with a mobile money service provider —more than Pakistan or Vietnam, but not as much as in India and Sri Lanka.
Crucially, even the poorer people, women, and the rural population had access to these services.
A visitor from the then East Pakistan would find modern Bangladesh completely unrecognizable. Part of that is, of course, due to global technological change.
A visitor from the then West Pakistan (or India, or any other neighbouring country for that matter) who would have returned to the country after five decades would also find a country that has transformed beyond imagination.
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Charting the progress of a changing society
Bangladesh’s evolution from the war-ravaged beginning to a fully-fledged developing economy has also been accompanied by significant social changes over the past five decades.
Consider, for example, where most Bangladeshis live.
For generations, the eastern Bengal delta had nurtured a rural society, its bucolic beauty celebrated in songs and poems.
In 1970, nine of ten East Pakistanis still lived in the countryside —a far higher proportion than in our neighbours. People started leaving their villages after independence.
By 2020, Bangladesh had a higher urbanization rate than India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam (Chart 1).
Towns and cities are the places of higher education, centers of governance, and investment in modern economic activities.
That’s why incomes are higher and more amenities are available in urban areas. As the saying goes, lights are brighter in big cities.
Of course, brighter lights require electricity. Even in the early 1990s, only one in every 10 Bangladeshis had access to electricity.
By 2019, nine out of ten did.
Although this is still slightly lower than most of our neighbours, the pace of electrification has been much more rapid than elsewhere in the region (Chart 2).
Even more remarkably, it’s not just the townsfolk that received electricity connections in the past three decades.
In 2019, 89% of the country’s rural population had access to electricity, up from less than 2% a quarter century earlier.
There is, however, a less positive side to this rapid electrification.
A higher proportion of electricity is generated from fossil fuels in Bangladesh than elsewhere in the region (Chart 3).
It is remarkable that a country that is one of the most vulnerable to climate change had less than 0.3% of its electricity from non-hydro renewable sources in 2015.
Also remarkable is the fact that hydroelectric sources played a relatively small role in the electrification process, generating less than 1% of the country’s electricity in 2015.
Of course, the Kaptai dam, the main source of the country’s hydroelectricity, had a far more insidious effect in terms of fomenting ethnic violence in southeastern Bangladesh.
The urbanization and electrification notwithstanding, there are aspects of life where progress has been less rapid than one might have thought.
Take for example how we cook.
Less than one in five Bangladeshi had access to clean cooking oil and technology in 2016, much lower than elsewhere in monsoon Asia (Chart 4).
Or let’s think about children (Chart 5). In 2013, 5% of Bangladeshi children aged between 7 and 14 worked.
Fewer children of that age worked in India and Indonesia. And we aren’t talking about light tasks for pocket money here.
These kids toiled for 36 hours a week on average.
As bad as these factlets are, they are nowhere near as shocking as the fact that even in 2019, over 15% of Bangladeshi women aged between 20-24 had their first marriage before turning 15.
Over 15%! In India it was about 5%, in Pakistan less than 4%!
Over the past few decades, rural Bangladeshis moved just not to the towns and cities near them, but many have also travelled across international borders and seas to work in the Gulf, Europe and elsewhere.
Remittances they send back have cushioned the country from macroeconomic shocks, and buoyed living standards of family members in the countryside.
And it is relatively less expensive to send remittances to Bangladesh (Chart 6).
Technology has, of course, played a role in the social transformation.
Mobile financial services, for example, allow individuals a range of consumption and business options that were not feasible only a few years ago.
In 2017, about half of Bangladeshis had an account with a mobile money service provider —more than Pakistan or Vietnam, but not as much as in India and Sri Lanka.
Crucially, even the poorer people, women, and the rural population had access to these services.
A visitor from the then East Pakistan would find modern Bangladesh completely unrecognizable. Part of that is, of course, due to global technological change.
A visitor from the then West Pakistan (or India, or any other neighbouring country for that matter) who would have returned to the country after five decades would also find a country that has transformed beyond imagination.
Jyoti Rahman is an applied macroeconomist. His writing are available at https://jrahman.substack.com/
All data for this piece are from the World Bank World Development Indicators.