Country Profile Bangladesh

labor is widespread. Thirteen percent of children between throughout the Bengal delta for centuries. It is a “cross-
the age of five and 14 work and try to contribute to their road” between Tibet and Nepal in the North, the Ganges
families’ income. Even though Bangladesh increased its Plains in the West and the Brahmaputra valley in the East.
agricultural production substantially and managed to meet Local traders, pilgrims, missionaries, and adventurers, and
the Millennium Development Goal (MDG 1) of halving the since the 16th century also Portuguese, Dutch and British
proportion of people who suffer from hunger, chronic and trading companies, have shaped the society and econ-
temporarily acute food insecurity still prevails: 16 percent omy of the Bengal delta and its emerging urban trading
of the total population and even four out of ten children hubs such as Kolkata, Dhaka and Chittagong. During the
below the age of five are undernourished. In Bangladesh, Mughal Empire (1612 to 1757), an aristocratic territorial
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hunger is still a key indicator of poverty. system was introduced, which led to the concentration of
In recent years, the vulnerability of people in Bangladesh power and land control in the hands of large landholders.
has been prominently discussed even in German media for This marked the beginning of feudal labor relations. Until
two major reasons. First, the fire in the garment factory today, land ownership is the basis of social inequality and
Tazreen Fashion in 2012 and the collapse of the garment a key driver of migration in the country. Landless laborers
factory Rana Plaza in 2013 caused the death of more than were always (forced to be) more mobile than families that
1.200 garment workers – most of them women. Both inci- controlled and cultivated a significant size of land.
dences revealed the exploitative working conditions in the In 1757, the British East India Company gained control
global textile industry. Second, Bangladesh is considered in the Bengal delta. During almost 200 years of British co-
as one of the countries that are most severely affected by lonial rule the feudal system of land control intensified. Ag-
the impacts of climate change as natural disasters occur ricultural land, on which rice, cotton, sugar cane and many
frequently. Tropical cyclones hit the coastal regions almost other crops were commercially cultivated, was expanded
biannually. Sea level rise and heavy floods contribute to significantly. Large-scale production of export-oriented
riverbank erosion and the loss of arable land. Prolonged cash crops such as jute, silk, tea, and indigo was intro-
heat waves reveal an increased variability of weather con- duced under systems of coerced labor. The British recruit-
ditions. Both natural disasters and more subtle environ- ed thousands of laborers from Assam to work in tea planta-
mental changes can jeopardize the lives and livelihoods of tions in what is now north-eastern Bangladesh. Meanwhile,
the Bangladeshi people who predominantly rely on agricul- many landless peasants and sharecroppers, who had to
ture. And yet, the people in the country endure daily hard- give away most of their harvest to their landlords, found it
ships with vigor and cope surprisingly well with the multiple difficult to feed and meet even the basic needs of their fam-
challenges they are confronted with. They have learned to ilies. They had to diversify their livelihood activities. Many
quickly adapt in times of economic insecurity and political then started to work as petty traders in commercial centers
turmoil. Migration plays an important role in people’s adap- or seasonally migrated to other regions – in particular from
tation strategies and people’s everyday life. the more densely populated eastern parts to western and
Since the 1980s, migration patterns in and from Ban- northern parts of the delta – in search for a more secure
gladesh were affected by three major trends: first, the and better life. Today’s patterns of the informal urban econ-
“export” of labor migrants, in particular to the Gulf States, omy and temporary labor mobility were thus already initi-
and subsequent international migrations (see chapter In- ated in the 19th century. Young men from the south-eastern
ternational Migration from Bangladesh); second, the rise parts of the Bengal delta also found employment in the
of Bangladesh’s garments industry, which spurred internal British merchant navy. Bangladeshi men are still working
migration and rapid urbanization (see chapter Urbaniza- as sailors on the world’s oceans. Former colonial ties thus
tion, Migration Systems within Bangladesh, and Translocal continue to shape the migration patterns of many Bangla-
Social Spaces); and third, disruptions of rural livelihoods deshis. The United Kingdom (UK) is still one of the favorite
by natural hazards and people’s adaptation in the context migration destinations, in particular for the educated elite.
of climate change (see chapter Climate Change and Inter- Independence from colonial rule and the Partition of
nal Migration in Bangladesh). International migration, tem- India in 1947 triggered the displacement of hundreds of
porary labor mobility within the country, and translocal live- thousands of people. One million Hindus were forced to
lihoods, that have emerged over time, play a crucial role in leave or left the territory because they feared discrimina-
Bangladesh’s national development and for the increasing tion and political violence in the newly created and Mus-
resilience of its people. lim dominated eastern province of Pakistan. Most of them
went to Bengali speaking regions of India, in particular
to Kolkata. By early 1948, around 800,000 Muslims, who
Historical Developments of Migration previously lived in the Indian regions of West Bengal, As-
Patterns sam and Bihar, had settled in East Pakistan. The borders
between the two newly created states remained porous.
Benjamin Etzold This became obvious during the civil war in 1971 when the
population of Bengali origin of Pakistan’s eastern province
In Bangladesh, migration is a normal part of everyday life fought for independence from West Pakistan, and also dur-
and closely connected to the country’s political and eco- ing the huge famine in 1974. More than ten million Bengali
nomic development. People and goods have been moving refugees temporarily sought refuge in India. Ever since,

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