Bangladesh will be a country with a fully digital economy by 2041 as the government has clearly made a remarkable journey towards mass digitization, a report said.
The National Human Development Report (NHDR) prepared by the Economic Relations Division (ERD) also said the country’s economy has significantly progressed despite a rise in poverty, unemployment and income losses because of the severe impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bangladesh is expected to become the 24th largest economy in the world by 2030, it said.
The ERD published the report on Thursday, which was contributed by leading professors, economists and consultants.
According to the report, in the several years, Bangladesh has achieved an average economic growth (GDP growth) of over 7 percent.
As a result, the size of Bangladesh's economy has increased 9 times in three decades and reached $330 billion in 2020.
In 1990, the size of Bangladesh's economy was only $35 billion.
However, the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a UK-based economic research organization, said in its latest report that Bangladesh will become the 24th largest economy in the world by 2036. At present, Bangladesh is ranked 42nd.
During 1990-2020, the per capita income of Bangladesh has registered a nearly seven-fold rise from $300 to $2,064.
The poverty incidence has fallen from 58 percent in 1990 to nearly 21 percent in 2019.
The life expectancy has increased significantly in Bangladesh from 58 years to about 72.6 years, an increase of about 15 years over the past three decades.
The NHDR report said the expected years of schooling – the number of years that a child of school-age can expect to receive an education – rose from 5 years to 11 years between 1990 to 2019.
The country has been praised for its impressive progress compared to its neighbours.
Today Bangladesh has achieved a life expectancy of 72.6 years as opposed to India's 70 and Pakistan's 67.
In Bangladesh, the under-five mortality rate is 28 in 1,000 live births, compared to 48 in India and 81 in Pakistan.
Bangladesh's role and involvement in global peacekeeping is noteworthy. So far, 163,887 peacekeepers from Bangladesh have participated in UN missions in over 40 countries.
The country has a total of 6,731 peacekeepers to the UN peacekeeping operations, the report also said.
The Covid-19 pandemic would inform and influence the future human development trajectory of Bangladesh.