FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It assigns new FIPS codes to the two newest divisions, and changes the code for one old division that changed size.
Chris Dent notified me that the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 
website now has provisional results of the 2001 census, which I used to update the main table.
Mamun pointed out a spelling error in the Bengali name of the country, which I have now fixed.
Bangladesh is divided into bibhag (divisions), which are subdivided into 21 anchal (regions), then further
into 64 zila (districts), then into about 493 thana or upazila (subdistricts), and finally into unions. In
about 1998, Sylhet, which had been a region within Chittagong division, became a division of its own. ISO
3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. It confirmed my earlier guess that ISO would assign
the code 6 to Sylhet.
| Short name | BANGLADESH |
| ISO code | BD |
| FIPS code | BG |
| Language | Bengali (bn) |
| Time zone | +6 |
| Capital | Dhaka |
At the beginning of the 20th century, India was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. It consisted of provinces directly under British control and Native States with feudal allegiance to the British crown. After World War II, Mahatma Gandhi's campaign of passive resistance induced Britain to grant India its independence. In an attempt to avoid ethnic conflict, the country was partitioned into a Hindu section (India) and a Muslim section (Pakistan). Pakistan became a Dominion of the British Commonwealth on 1947-08-14. It consisted of two separate areas of Muslim concentration. The eastern section corresponded to the prewar district of East Bengal, plus a small part of Assam. On 1955-08-14, the two sections became the provinces of West Pakistan and East Pakistan. The two sections suffered from mutual distrust. On 1971-03-26, East Pakistan declared its independence from Pakistan. A war ensued between India and Pakistan. On 1971-12-15, Pakistan accepted defeat, and East Pakistan became a separate country, aligned with India. The new nation was initially known as Bangla Desh.
Bengali bongo: Bengali, desh: land
Bangladesh is divided into six bibhag (divisions).
| Division | HASC | ISO | FIPS | Population | Area(km.²) | Area(mi.²) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barisal | BD.BA | 1 | BG85 | 8,112,435 | 11,394 | 4,399 |
| Chittagong | BD.CG | 2 | BG84 | 23,999,345 | 32,696 | 12,624 |
| Dhaka | BD.DA | 3 | BG81 | 38,677,876 | 30,772 | 11,881 |
| Khulna | BD.KH | 4 | BG82 | 14,468,819 | 22,181 | 8,564 |
| Rajshahi | BD.RJ | 5 | BG83 | 29,992,955 | 34,235 | 13,218 |
| Sylhet | BD.SY | 6 | BG86 | 7,899,816 | 12,718 | 4,910 |
| 6 divisions | 123,151,246 | 143,996 | 55,597 | |||
| ||||||
Bangladesh uses four-digit postal codes. Recently the Bangladesh Post Office has appended "00" to all of the codes in preparation for a six-digit scheme to be implemented in the future. At present, the fifth and sixth digits are optional.
See the Districts of Bangladesh page.
Sandwip Island, and other coastal islands to the south and east, down to Saint Martin's Island, are in Chittagong region. Hatia Island and South Hatia Island are in Noakhali region.
According to Brendan Whyte, an expert on the subject, Bangladesh has 92 exclaves in India's West Bengal state (Jalpaiguri and Koch Bihar districts). In 21 of these cases, the Bangladeshi exclave is surrounded by a patch of Indian territory which is itself an exclave in Bangladesh.
BD.CH, FIPS BG80).| Division | 1981-03-06 | 1991-03-11 | 2001-01-23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barisal | 7,757,334 | 8,112,435 | |
| Chittagong | 22,565,556 | 21,865,850 | 23,999,345 |
| Dhaka | 26,248,864 | 33,939,848 | 38,677,876 |
| Khulna | 17,149,792 | 13,243,054 | 14,468,819 |
| Rajshahi | 21,087,812 | 27,499,727 | 29,992,955 |
| Sylhet | 7,149,372 | 7,899,816 | |
| Totals | 87,052,024 | 111,455,185 | 123,151,246 |
| Back to main statoids page | Last updated: 2007-07-17 |
| Copyright © 2001-2007 by Gwillim Law. All rights reserved. | |