Unpacking the Paradox of Development

Bangladesh is now more commonly

referred to as a ‘paradox’, a
‘development ‘surprise’ or a ‘miracle’.
These terms point to an apparent anomaly
between the country’s recent success in
terms of economic growth and human
development.
 GDP
• According to the most recent data
from the International Monetary
Fund, Bangladesh’s per capita GDP
(measured in purchasing-power-parity
terms) was about half of Pakistan’s in
1987 and two-thirds of India’s as
recently as 2007. But in 2020,
Bangladesh has surpassed the former
and is catching up with the latter,
owing partly to its success in be-coming
a leading textiles and clothing
exporter, trailing just behind China
and Vietnam.
 Social indicators
• Even more noteworthy are the
improvements in social indicators such as
life expectancy, infant and maternal
mortality, fertility, and female labour-
force participation. And, equally
important, Bangladesh has managed to
sustain a modicum of democratic
stability – keeping the army in the
barracks.But beyond such metrics,
Bangla-desh’s experience is distinctive in
two ways that have yet to be fully
appreciated from a broader
development perspective. The first relates
to state formation and capacity.
 Political Regimes
• Post-independence Bangladesh
has experienced a wide range of
political regimes characterised
by varying degrees of legitimacy
and political order.
 Development
• Statistics indicate that
Bangladesh’s recent achievements
are not limited to the economic
sphere. The development story of
our country offers many important
lessons in reducing poverty, with
poverty rates dropping from 44.2
percent in 1991 to 23.2 percent in
2016, and shows impressive
trends with regards to health and
primary schooling.