Bangladesh, which means "The nation of Bengal" lies on the Games Delta between India and Burma. Its coast is the Bay of Bengal. Nearly all of Bangladesh is very low-lying and much of it is reclaimed from the sea.

The capital is Dhaka, a city of 15 million people. The country has a population of 160 million people, making it the eighth most populous country in the world. It is also one of the poorest.

Bangladesh is a new country. It was formed in two stages. Because it is mostly a Muslim country, it was split away from India along with West Pakistan after World War II. At this time it was called East Pakistan. The two parts of Pakistan were separated by 1400km of India, making it almost impossible for them to work as a single country There were disagreements because the eastern part felt it was being neglected by the west. As a result, in 1971 there was a rebellion in East Pakistan, and in time the new country of Bangladesh emerged. Since then it has been difficult for Bangladesh to get a peaceful government and many disputes remain between peoples within the country.

Many of these problems would probably go away if the wealth of the people could be improved. To help this, Bangladesh governments have tried to get work from overseas, and many items bought in wealthy countries are made by poorly-paid workers in Bangladesh. However, it has to be remembered that without this work, many people would have no work at all. It will take many years yet for people in bangladesh to become better off. This is made all the harder by natural hazards, especially typhoons, which frequently destroy land at the end of the delta and flood a third of the country.