Bangladesh: Literacy, National Income, and Fisheries Sector

Posted on Jan 12, 2025 in Economy

Literacy in Bangladesh

  • The recently published 2011 Bangladesh National Literacy Assessment Survey reported that 38% of Bangladeshi people cannot read or write, over one in three, despite much welcome progress.
  • Since 2010, Bangladesh has enrolled over three million children in primary schools through the primary education program.
  • This means that about 98% of school-age children attend school — boys and girls.
  • There is a stark variation in literacy rates between men and women, between rural and urban areas, and regionally. This needs immediate attention.
  • In rural areas, the gap between men’s and women’s literacy can be as much as 12 percentage points. Disparities between rural and urban areas are even greater.
  • The 2010 National Education Policy clearly states Bangladesh’s intention to provide all citizens with a quality education.
  • Actual education expenditure in Bangladesh has increased from Tk. 120 billion in 2006 to Tk. 192 billion in 2012.

National Income

  • National income accounts estimation is one of the core functions of the public sector entity, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), under the Ministry of Planning, Government of Bangladesh.
  • Initially, national income accounting was a joint activity of BBS and the Planning Commission. With the reorganization and strengthening of BBS through the setting up of the Statistics Division in August 1975, BBS has been engaged in calculating national accounts entirely on its own.
  • BBS began compiling and publishing GDP and other national income accounting aggregates in 1972 by following the production and expenditure approach in line with the concepts and classifications of the 1968 UN System of National Accounts (SNA-1968).
  • It has been adhering to the two inter-related systems of accounts – GDP by production approach and GDP by expenditure approach. Both current and constant price estimates are made for calculating GDP through the production method.
  • The 1972-73 fiscal year was used as the base year for constant price estimates until 1988-89. The base year was then changed to 1984-85 in the 1988-89 financial year.
  • Following the recommendations of a governmental task force, the national accounts estimates were then tagged to a new base year (1995-96) with effect from the second half of the 1990s decade. In the revised estimates, the whole economy of Bangladesh was divided into 15 main sectors for estimating GDP in accordance with the SNA-1993 system of national accounts prescribed by the UN Statistical Commission.
  • BBS also compiles Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), now covering 15 sectors of 6 divisions, 20 regions, and 64 districts of the country, at current and constant prices in accordance with SNA-1993 stipulations.
  • The ongoing digitization from the bottom to the top layers has become an irreversible process pushing Bangladesh towards a medium-income nation, establishing accountability and transparency everywhere, speakers said today.

Fisheries

  • The fisheries sector contributes 4.39 percent to the country’s national income, while livestock contributes 2.58 percent each in the financial year at present.
  • The minister said the government, in its 2011-12 fiscal, upgraded 970 wetlands in about 2,123 hectares area through seven development projects to restore fish production with necessary dredging and digging.
  • The government also announced 433 water bodies as safe zones to nurture different species of local fishes.
  • Due to this, the Hilsa production has tremendously enhanced, rising to 3.465 lakh metric tons from 2.99 lakh metric tons in the 2011-12 fiscal year.