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Situated in South Asia, Bangladesh, before it became an independent state in 1971, it was the eastern province of Pakistan, known as East Bengal and, later, as East Pakistan. Bangladesh is slightly larger than the US state of Iowa with a total area of 148,460 sq km.

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Bangladesh is a tropical country, situated mainly on the deltas of several large rivers flowing from the Himalayas. The Brahmaputra River, known locally as the Jamuna, unites with part of the Ganges to form the Padma, which, after its juncture with a third large river, the Meghna, flows into the Bay of Bengal.

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Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon climate. There are three distinct seasons. The winter, which lasts from October through early March, is cool and dry, with temperatures ranging from 5 °C to 22 °C. Temperatures rise rapidly in March and during the summer season average about 32 °C. 80% of the annual rainfall falls from May to September.

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Extreme population density has severely strained Bangladesh's limited natural resources. Nearly all arable land is already cultivated, and forestland has been greatly reduced by agricultural expansion and by timber and fuel wood cutting. Between 1983 and 1993, forest and woodland declined by 12.5% to 4.7 million ac.

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The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimated the population of Bangladesh in July 2015 to be approximately 168,957,745, which placed it at number 9 in population among the 238 countries. Approximately 5.1% of the population was over 65 years of age, with another 31.6% under 15 years of age. The median age in Bangladesh was 24.7 years. There was just under one male for every female in the country.

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Residents of Bangladesh are called Bangladeshis. According to 2011 census estimates reported, at least 98% of the people were of the ethnic group called Bengalis.

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Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh and is spoken as a first language by about 98.8% of the population, while 1.2% reported speaking a different language. The successful move to make Bengali coequal with Urdu as an official language was a hallmark of Bengali nationalism in the early 1950s.

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The government has worked with foreign governments to open more jobs abroad for Bangladeshi workers, The government hopes to modernize and expand its international business and financial services sector with help from the European Union (EU).In July 2009, the government signed a funding agreement with the EU for $14.1 million, with funds designated for this purpose as part of the European Community's action program on the Accompanying Measures for Sugar Protocol Countries, established in 2008.