Is Bangladesh Far More Prosperous than Pakistan?

Seems like this question has gotten highly sensitive for some people of a particular country, that’s why they are coming up with info’s (not facts) that are irrelevant and deviating from the demanding answer to the question. Bangladesh at first was a part of Pakistan and just got its independence only 45 years ago from Pakistan. Although Bangladesh was the richest region of the subcontinent once, but it became one of the poorest parts of the whole world when it was under the part of Pakistan due to the discrimination.

Bangladesh started its journey after the cold civil war with Pakistan and became a new emerging country in 1971. Bangladesh started its journey full of hope and aspiration to bring the glory of Bengal and started developing the country in every sector.

In the journey of development, Bangladesh got huge support from India, China, Japan, UK, USA and other developed and developing countries.

As for Bangladesh, it is developing at a faster rate because of:  

• Higher literacy rate
• Gender equality
• Better living standards
• Poverty reduction
• Political stability
• Balance diplomatic relations with both Asian Giants (China, India)
• State Policy
• Textile sector
• Less military expenses
• Population control 

Before jumping into the conclusion that which country is far more prosperous, here we will be going to discuss some comparisons between these two countries.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Let’s discuss some of the general information about both countries like: 

The Region, Area, Government Form, Independence Since, Population.

	Bangladesh	Pakistan
Region	South Asia	South Asia
Area	147,630 km2	796,100 km2
Government Form	Parliamentary Republic	Federal Parliamentary Republic
Independence since	1971 AD	1947 AD
Population	164.7 million	220.9 million

ECONOMIC STATUS:

Bangladesh has now become one of the fastest growing countries in economic development. A GDP of 324.2 billion USD, compared to Pakistan’s GDP of 263.7 billion USD, has made Bangladesh the 33^rd largest economic stable country in the whole world. We will see the comparison between the two countries' economic status in the form of a table.

	Bangladesh	Pakistan
GDP	324.2 billion USD	263.7 billion USD
Debt	145.48 billion USD	248.7 billion USD
Exports	$44.39 B USD	22,237 million USD
Imports	71.02 B USD	164.595 million USD
Population below poverty line	20.5%	35.7%
Foreign Reserves	35.3 billion USD	8.385 billion USD

 

QUALITY OF LIFE:

After separation from Pakistan, Bangladesh has improved in many of its sectors like they have strong and stabilized political parties, they have given equal civil rights, health quality has been improved on a great scale, and cost of living has also been improved in comparison to Pakistan. Let’s have a look at the comparison table of both countries:

	Bangladesh	Pakistan
Political Stability	43%	24%
Civil Rights	26%	26%
Health	44%	31%
Cost of Living	61%	63%

 

INFRASTRUCTURE:

Infrastructure is the “underlying structure” of any country and its economy which includes roads, bridges, dams, the water and sewer systems, railways and subways, airports and harbors.

Infrastructure is lacking in many areas of both countries. The similar factors in both countries like globalization and population, environmental issues indicate that both Pakistan and Bangladesh will face comparable challenges in the coming future.

Let’s have a look at the comparison table of infrastructure of both countries.

	Bangladesh	Pakistan
Roadways	369,105 km	263,775 km
Railways	2,460 km	11,881 km
Harbors	468	57
Passenger Airports	8	34

 

ENERGY BALANCE:

Electricity consumption per head in Pakistan is below the level of countries like India and Indonesia but ahead of Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.

Let’s have an overall comparison of energy balance between the two countries.

	Bangladesh	Pakistan
Energy Consumption	53.65 bn kWh	92.33 bn kWh
Energy Production	60.51 bn kWh	109.70 bn kWh
Energy Imports	0.00	490.00 m kWh

 

HEALTHCARE SYSTEM:

The healthcare system is highly decentralized in both countries. 

New study ranks Pakistan behind Bangladesh and India in healthcare.

In this section, we will discuss the healthcare system of Pakistan vs Bangladesh such as hospital beds, Physicians, Diabetes, Malaria, HIV, Tuberculosis, Tuberculosis cure rate, Smokers.

 

	Bangladesh	Pakistan
Hospital beds per 1000 inhabitants	0.79	0.63
Physicians per 1000 inhabitants	0.53	0.98
Diabetes	9.2 %	19.9 %
Malaria	0.7 %	3.4 %
HIV	0.01 %	0.20 %
Tuberculosis	2.18 %	2.59 %
Tuberculosis cure rate	95.0 %	93.0 %
Smokers	34.7 %	20.2 %

 

CONCLUSION:

So, now after these comparisons, if someone asks, “Is Bangladesh a far prosperous country than Pakistan?”, then in my opinion, yes to some extent Bangladesh is far prosperous than Pakistan because Bangladesh has outpaced Pakistan across all standard economic indicators, including nominal gross domestic product, GDP per capita, GDP's growth rate and foreign reserves. And it has now become one of the world's fastest-growing economies.