Bangladesh
is a small country nestled between the Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal
(Indian Ocean). India surrounds it on the west, the north, and the
east. |
 population:
Bangladesh is the most
heavily populated country in the world - 133 million people are crammed
into 54,000 square miles, roughly the size of Wisconsin. This
equates to over 2400 people per square mile. (Compared to a
similar-sized state, Wisconsin, which has 93 people per square mile,
Bangladesh is teaming with people.)
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education:
Education is the only way
to change the lives of the Bangladeshi people. Currently, only about
1/2 of all people of Bangladesh are "educated," (they can read and write and
sign their name.)
Without education, the other
1/2 of the country begin working at an early age, and girls marry by
their twelfth birthday. Uneducated people are relegated to lives of
hard labor or menial labor jobs such as rickshaw driver, field worker, or
other subsistence employment. |
flooding:
Because of deforestation in India, Nepal, and China, rainwater from the
Himalayas overwhelms the Bangladesh river system and causes regular, severe
flooding. This rush of water erodes the soil and fills in the rivers,
which causes greater flooding.
rivers:
Bangladesh has two great
rivers that originate in the Himalayas, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra.
The lower 1/3 of Bangladesh
is a gift of the rivers, making it the largest delta in the world.
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