Bangladesh's Development Surprise

How a country once dismissed as a "basket case" achieved rapid gains in health, education and women's empowerment, and the roles of NGOs and the state.

When Bangladesh became independent in 1971 after a devastating war, its prospects looked bleak. A U.S. official reportedly called it an international “basket case”. Famine struck in 1974. Yet over the following decades, Bangladesh became one of the development world’s great success stories.

Remarkable progress

Life expectancy rose from under 50 years in the early 1970s to over 70.
Child mortality fell dramatically.
Fertility fell from around six children per woman to around two.
Girls’ schooling expanded, with girls’ enrolment in secondary school equal to or exceeding boys’.
Economic growth averaged around 6 percent a year for much of the 2000s and 2010s. Bangladesh became a lower-middle-income country in 2015.

The role of NGOs

Bangladesh has some of the world’s largest non-governmental organisations. BRAC, founded in 1972 by Fazle Hasan Abed, grew into one of the largest NGOs in the world, running schools, health programmes, microfinance and programmes for the ultra-poor. Grameen Bank, founded by Muhammad Yunus, pioneered microcredit and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Low-cost solutions

Bangladesh achieved health gains through simple, low-cost interventions delivered at scale:

Oral rehydration salts to treat diarrhoea, which BRAC taught millions of mothers to prepare at home.
Vaccination campaigns.
Community health workers, often women, visiting homes.
Family planning services.

Challenges

Bangladesh faces serious challenges: dependence on garments, climate vulnerability, political instability, including mass protests that toppled the government in 2024, and banking sector problems.

Teaching a solution door to door

In the 1980s, BRAC workers visited millions of households to teach mothers how to mix oral rehydration solution from water, salt and sugar to treat childhood diarrhoea. Workers were paid partly based on how well mothers remembered the method weeks later. This simple, cheap treatment saved many children's lives.

Thinking income growth alone explains social progress

Bangladesh's health and education gains came faster than its income growth, driven by public policy, NGOs, women's empowerment and low-cost interventions. Social progress can outpace economic growth.

Key takeaways

Bangladesh overcame a bleak start to achieve rapid social progress.
Life expectancy rose above 70, and fertility fell to around two children per woman.
NGOs like BRAC and Grameen Bank played major roles.
Low-cost interventions like oral rehydration saved many lives.