With a population of around 170 million people in 2024, Bangladesh is the eighth most populous country in the world. With over 70 per cent of the country’s land devoted to agriculture and another 11 per cent forest, most of Bangladesh’s population can be found in densely populated areas. At the same time, it is one of the world’s fastest-growing emerging market economies. The country’s economic growth is contested, but the CIA world factbook puts it at US$1.413 trillion in 2023, up from $1.336 trillion in 2022 and $1.248 trillion in 2021. In other words, the country has bounced back strongly in the post-pandemic environment. Textiles are Bangladesh’s biggest export and the US (18%), Germany (16%), the UK (8%), Spain (7%) and Poland (6%) were the biggest export destinations in 2022.