Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the permanent residents of the formerEast Pakistan were transformed into citizens of a new republic.[55] Bangladesh is the world'seighth most populous nation. The vast majority of Bangladeshis are ethnolinguisticallyBengalis, anIndo-Aryan people. The population of Bangladesh is concentrated in the fertileBengal delta, which has been the centre of urban and agrarian civilizations for millennia. The country's highlands, including theChittagong Hill Tracts and parts of theSylhet Division, are home to various tribal minorities.
Bengali Muslims are the predominant ethnoreligious group of Bangladesh, with a population of 150.36 million, which makes up 91.04% of the country's population as of 2022.[56][57][58] The minorityBengali Hindu population made up approximately 7.95% of the population of the country according to the 2022 Census[59][60] Non-Bengali Muslims make up the largest immigrant community; while theTibeto-BurmanChakmas, who speak the Indo-AryanChakma language, are the largest indigenous ethnic group after Indo-Aryan Bengalis.[61] TheAustroasiaticSanthals are the largest aboriginal community.
After Independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Bangladeshis, as a nationality, have been referred to by various terms:
Bangladeshis, the most widely used term to refer to the citizens of Bangladesh, comes fromBangladesh (meaning "Country of Bengal"), and can be traced to the early 20th century. Then, the term was used by Bengali patriotic songs likeNamo Namo Namo Bangladesh Momo, byKazi Nazrul Islam, andAaji Bangladesher Hridoy, byRabindranath Tagore.[62]
Bangalees, anexonym forBengalis, was used between 1972 and 1978 by the Constitution of Bangladesh for all citizens of Bangladesh, despite 2% of the population being indigenous and immigrant non-Bengalis. Under PresidentZiaur Rahman, the constitutional term was changed toBangladeshi, as part of efforts to promoteBangladeshi nationalism.[63] The term "Bangalee" is still used to denote people ofBangladesh as a nation.[64]
None of these terms should be conflated withBengalis, the name of the predominant ethnic group in the country who make up the bulk of all Bangladeshis.
The region of Bengal was settled by people of diverse origins, includingIndo-Aryan,Dravidian,Tibeto-Burman andAustroasiatic ancestry, with the most ancient settlements traced back to 4000 BCE.[65]
Bangladesh has a 2024 population of 174 million according to United Nations projections.[1] As per as 2020 estimation research, around 13 million Bangladeshis live abroad in various foreign nations.[2][67] The estimated total population of all Bangladeshis including the ones who are living in their country and abroad is about 187 million as per 2020–21 estimation.[1][2][67]
Bangladesh religious diversity as per 2022 census[68][60][69]
Bangladeshi artists performing in a dance showBangladeshi girls taking Selfie atPohela Falgun
Approximately 99% of the Bangladeshis areBengalis.East Bengal was a prosperousmelting pot for centuries. It witnessed a synthesis of Islamic, North Indian and indigenousBengali cultures. Today, Bengalis enjoy strong cultural homogeneity with a common standardized language and a variety ofdialects.
Over 91.04% of the population areBengali Muslims (150.36 million) as of 2022. This makes Bangladesh the world's third largestMuslim majority country afterIndonesia andPakistan. Bengali Muslims also make up the world's second largest Muslim ethnic group afterArab Muslims. Most Bangladeshi Muslims are member of theSunni branch of Islam. There are significant minorities of theShia andAhmadiya branches.Bengali Hindus are the largest minority of Bangladesh, with a population between 13.1 million constituting 7.95% as per 2022 Census.[60] Bangladesh has the third largest Hindu population in the world afterIndia andNepal. There are an estimated 400,000Bengali Christians and 500,000Bengali Buddhists.
The Bengali population is concentrated in Bengal delta, the coastal areas of Chittagong Division and the river valleys of Sylhet-Division.
An estimated 3 million Bangladeshi citizens are non-BengaliMuslim immigrants from different parts of South Asia. They include affluent sections of the country's merchant and business class, particularlyNizari Ismailism adherents.[70] They also include formerStranded Pakistanis and their descendants. Bangladesh's non-Bengali Muslims are usually fluent in both Bengali andHindustani. Also there are over 1 millionRohingya Muslim refugees living in Bangladesh who came here during the period of (2016–17) crisis.[71] On 28 September 2018, at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said there are 1.1–1.3 million Rohingya refugees now settled in Bangladesh.[72][73]
In southeastern Bangladesh, theChittagong Hill Tracts frontier has a district history. It was an exclusive zone for Tibeto-Burman tribes inBengal during theBritish Raj. Today, the area makes up 10% of Bangladesh's territory. It is home to severalindigenous ethnic groups in the three hill districts ofRangamati,Bandarban andKhagrachari. The three largest communities in the region have aRaja as their tribal chief who is recognized by the Government of Bangladesh.
TheMarma people are second largest community in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. They have aRaja and are concentrated in the districts ofBandarban andKhagrachari. The Marmas are originallyArakanese people who moved to the territory in the 17th century in order to escape Burmese persecution.[75]
TheMro people are the third largest community in the region and have aRaja.Buddhism,Christianity andanimist beliefs are among the chief faiths of the Mros. Their population is concentrated inBandarban District.[76] Mros are originally related to the Chin people of Myanmar.[77]
TheSanthal people are the largest aboriginal community of the country. They speak the AustroasiaticSanthali language. Their culture is noted for martial dance traditions. Their population is most concentrated inRajshahi Division andRangpur Division. The Santhals have been the focal point of land rights controversies as the Bangladeshi government seeks to develop open pit coal mining in their tribal hinterlands.[93][94]
A negligible small minority ofMarwari people live in various cities and towns of the country such asDinajpur,Kushtia andNarayanganj. Although many of them have been assimilated into the larger Hindu Bengali demographics, they still use the marwari surnames such asAgarwal,Singhania etc. They are among the affluent sections of the country's merchant and business class.[citation needed]
The basicsocial unit in a village is the family (poribar orgushti), generally consisting of a complete or incompletepatrilineally extended household (chula) and residing in a homestead (bari). The individualnuclear family often is submerged in the larger unit and might be known as the house (ghor). Above thebari level, patrilineal kin ties are linked into sequentially larger groups based on real, fictional, or assumed relationships.[101]
A significant unit larger than that of close kin is the voluntary religious and mutual benefit association known as "the society" (shomaj ormilat). Among the functions of ashomaj might be the maintenance of a Mosque and support of amullah. An informal council ofshomaj elders (matabdars orshordars) settles disputes taking place in the village . Factional competition between themotobdars is a major dynamic of social and political interaction.[101]
Groups of homes in a village are calledParas, and eachpara has its own name. Severalparas constitute amauza, the basic revenue and census survey unit. The traditional character of rural villages was changing in the latter half of the 20th century with the addition of brick structures of one or more stories scattered among the more commonthatchedbamboo huts.[101]
Although farming has traditionally been ranked among the most desirable occupations, villagers in the 1980s began to encourage their children to leave the increasingly overcrowded countryside to seek more secure employment in the towns. Traditional sources of prestige, such as landholding, distinguished lineage, and religious piety were beginning to be replaced by modern education, higher income, and steadier work. These changes, however, did not prevent rural poverty from increasing greatly.
View of downtown Dhaka, the largest city in Bangladesh and one of the world's most populated cities
In 2015, 34% of Bangladeshis lived in cities.[102]Dhaka is the largest city in Bangladesh and one of the world's most populousmegacities. Other important cities includeChittagong,Sylhet,Khulna,Rajshahi,Bogura,Jessore,Barisal,Comilla,Narayanganj andMymensingh. Most urban centres are rural administrative towns. Urban centres grew in number and population during the 1980s as a result of an administrative decentralization program that featured the creation ofupazilas.[103]
Bangladesh is noted forcultural pluralism within aBengali Muslim majority. Secularism has been an important contributor to the nation's society and ethos. TheBengali language is a fundamental element of Bangladeshi identity. It is a secular language which evolved between the 7th and 10th centuries, with an indigenous alphabet, and unites people of different faiths and regions.[citation needed] TheBengali language movement sowed the seeds of East Pakistani nationalism, ultimately culminating in theBangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Since independence, the relationship between religion and the state has been controversial. Between 1972 and 1975, Bangladesh experiencedsocialism under a secular parliamentary system.Military coups ushered a sixteen-year presidential regime, which restored thefree market and promoted moderateIslamism. In 1988,Islam was made thestate religion. In 2010, the Bangladesh Supreme Court reaffirmed the principle ofseparation of mosque and state in the constitution.[citation needed] The government generally respects freedom of religion and ensures protection for minorities.[104] Another debate on national identity concerns attitudes towards the Chittagong Hill Tracts. A low-level insurgency took place in the region to demand constitutional autonomy against Bengali settlements. Despite apeace treaty in 1997, the Bangladeshi government is yet to implement many of its commitments to protectadibashi land rights. However, the deletion in 1977 ofBangalee as the nationality term for the country's citizens, in order to be inclusive of non-Bengali minorities, also reflects attempts to build a more cosmopolitan Bangladeshi society.[citation needed]
The culture of Bangladesh has evolved with influences from diverse social societies. Bangladesh's main religion is Islam, which has played a critical part in influencing the country's culture.
The official language of Bangladesh isBengali, which is shared with the neighbouring Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura.Bengali dialects vary between different regions of Bangladesh but Standard Bengali is the most widely used.
The oldest literary inscription in Bangladesh dates back to the 3rd century BCE. It was found atMahasthangarh and is written in theBrahmi script. The language isMagadhi Prakrit.[106] The Bengali language developed from Magadhi Prakrit, and it's written fromApabhramsa, between the 7th and 10th centuries. It once formed a single easternIndo-Aryan language withAssamese andOdia, but later became distinct. It became an official language of theSultanate of Bengal, where it was spoken as the main vernacular language. It absorbed vocabulary fromArabic,Persian andSanskrit. Bengali is the6th most spoken first language in the world. The language was modernized during theBengali Renaissance in the 19th century. It has influenced other languages in the region, includingChakma,Rohingya, Assamese, Odia andNepali. The indigenousBengali alphabets descended from Brahmi serves as the Bengali script.
Bangladeshi Muslims typically carry surnames that haveArabic,Persian andSanskrit origins. Bangladeshi Hindus have Sanskritized Bengali surnames. Many Bangladeshi Christians havePortuguese surnames. Buddhists have a mixture of Bengali and Tibeto-Burman surnames.
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^"Meitei | people".Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved12 February 2023.Meitei, also spelled Meetei or Meithei, also called Manipuri, ...
^ab"Manipuri language".Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved12 February 2023.Manipuri language, Manipuri Meiteilon, also called Meitei (Meetei), a Tibeto-Burman language spoken predominantly in Manipur, a northeastern state of India. Smaller speech communities exist in the Indian states of Assam, Mizoram, and Tripura, as well as in Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma). ... Manipuri has its own script, locally known as Meitei Mayek.
^"Classical Dances: Manipuri Raas Leela, and its exploration of love — both romantic and spiritual-Art-and-culture".Firstpost. 14 March 2022. Retrieved12 February 2023.While Manipuri adheres to Bharat Muni's Natya Shastra in its formalised classical structure, it can nonetheless be traced to the ancient period when the dance was simply a part of the Meitei community's cultural practice. ... It was the Meitei monarch, King Bhagya Chandra who for the first time adopted Gaudiya Vaishnavism or the worship of Krishna [an avatar of Vishnu], and subsequently composed the very first Raas Leelas to effective give Manipuri its present structure.
^"Manipuri language".Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved12 February 2023.Manipuri language, Manipuri Meiteilon, also called Meitei (Meetei), a Tibeto-Burman language spoken predominantly in Manipur, a northeastern state of India. Smaller speech communities exist in the Indian states of Assam, Mizoram, and Tripura, as well as in Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma).
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