World Bank Income Classification:Low Income
The World Bank classifies economies for analytical purposes into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high income. For this purpose it uses gross national income (GNI) per capita data in U.S. dollars, converted from local currency using the World Bank Atlas method, which is applied to smooth exchange rate fluctuations.
Least Developed Country:Yes
Since 1971, the United Nations has recognized LDCs as a category of States that are deemed highly disadvantaged in their development process, for structural, historical and also geographical reasons. Three criteria are used: per capita income, human assets, and economic vulnerability.
Gender Inequality Index:0.575
GII is a composite metric of gender inequality using three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men, and vice-versa.
Gender Development Index:0.723
GDI measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, education, and command over economic resources.
Population:209,497,025
Source of population data: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision
Male:19,976,265 (9.5%)
Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)
By 2026, women, girls and gender diverse people benefit from an environment in which they are empowered to exercise their rights, agency and decision-making power over all aspects of their lives and are free from all forms of discrimination, violence and harmful norms and practices
UNSDCF SP5
By 2026, women, girls and gender diverse people benefit from an environment in which they are empowered to exercise their rights, agency and decision-making power over all aspects of their lives and are free from all forms of discrimination, violence and harmful norms and practices
UN Women reports on this indicator in a global scope, signified by "(Desk Review)" at the end of the indicator statement (see the Our Global Results page for the global result)
Complementary indicators are identified as those in the results framework that are not repeated verbatim in the results framework of another United Nations entity, but are related or provide different but complementary lenses or insights into the same issue, high-level result and/or area of complementary work, such as a Sustainable Development Goal target.
Complementary
Common indicators are those that appear verbatim the same in at least two entities' results frameworks and are drawn, where possible, directly from other globally agreed frameworks.
Common
Complementary indicators are identified as those in the results framework that are not repeated verbatim in the results framework of another United Nations entity, but are related or provide different but complementary lenses or insights into the same issue, high-level result and/or area of complementary work, such as a Sustainable Development Goal target.
Complementary
Data reported for 2022 results against this indicator was obtained as part of a learning process on social norms and therefore may not accurately reflect the results obtained. Internal reviews of data collected on social norms across relevant indicators, coupled with external reviews, are informing the design of UN Women’s principled approach to social & gender norms change. This will be reflected in changes to the indicators to be introduced in the Mid-Term Review of the Strategic Plan.
Complementary indicators are identified as those in the results framework that are not repeated verbatim in the results framework of another United Nations entity, but are related or provide different but complementary lenses or insights into the same issue, high-level result and/or area of complementary work, such as a Sustainable Development Goal target.
Complementary
Government institutions have strengthened capacities to mainstream GEWE into public policies, laws, plans, financing strategies, institutional frameworks and data collection processes, in line with global GE standards, including for VAW prevention and reduction
Selected public sector service providers (law enforcement and judiciary) and civil society service providers have strengthened capacities to deliver high-quality and comprehensive gender-responsive and survivor-centred VAW services in line with international standards, with UN Women’s support.
Civil society, especially WLOs and youth networks, have strengthened capacities, budgets and access to platforms that facilitate their engagement with government actors and enable them to influence policies promoting GEWE and eliminating VAW.
In addition to results reported by UN Women field offices (shown here), results achieved in countries and territories through the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) are included in a non-duplicative manner in the global reporting on this indicator (see the Our Global Results page).
The government, public and private Institutions and CSOs have strengthened capacities to adapt and/or implement evidence-driven strategies and to promote knowledge generation, coordination, advocacy and partnerships to advance social norms that prevent VAW
Data reported for 2022 results against this indicator was obtained as part of a learning process on social norms and therefore may not accurately reflect the results obtained. Internal reviews of data collected on social norms across relevant indicators, coupled with external reviews, are informing the design of UN Women’s principled approach to social & gender norms change. This will be reflected in changes to the indicators to be introduced in the Mid-Term Review of the Strategic Plan.
The Bangladesh UNCT has increased access to technical assistance, capacity building support, and resources (incl. data/tools/guidance) to facilitate the full implementation of agreed-upon actions of the UNCT SWAP-GE Comprehensive Assessment, and enhance system-wide accountability and inter-agency coordination on GEWE through UN Women’s support
By 2026, women, girls and gender diverse people benefit from an environment in which they are empowered to exercise their rights, agency and decision-making power over all aspects of their lives and are free from all forms of discrimination, violence and harmful norms and practices
Progress towards the outcome is on track in 2022. There has been a notable shift in the legal and policy environment that allows women to exercise their rights, agency, and decision-making. The Government of Bangladesh demonstrated its commitment to improving the lives of women and girls by prioritizing gender equality in the country's Eighth Five Year Plan (2020-2025) (8th FYP). Against this backdrop, substantive contribution has been made towards the achievement of the outcome through leveraging UN Women’s triple mandate, contributing to the reformation of discriminatory law; generating data and evidence; developing a roadmap for accelerating SDG-5 financing and strengthening UN system accountability to advancing the gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls (GEWE) agenda. The Evidence (Amendment) Bill 2022 has been passed in 2022 by the National Parliament of Bangladesh, which repealed the discriminatory clauses (Section 155(4)) of the Evidence Act 1872. The amended Bill prohibits questioning of a rape survivor’s character during cross-examinations in a trial and incorporates the admissibility of digital evidence critical for empowering GBV survivors. As a result of continuous advocacy initiatives of the Rape Law Reform (RLR) Coalition with the government and informed by action research ( Between ‘Virtue’ and ‘Immorality’: Why Character Evidence Must Be Prohibited in Rape Cases ), the repeal will help to eliminate the practice of re-traumatization of a rape survivor labeled as ‘the second rape’. UN Women contributed to this discriminatory law reform by supporting civil-society organizations (CSOs) for evidence-driven advocacy to influence the legal reformation. UN Women supported the RLR Coalition, led by its partner organization, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), with seventeen CSO members. The RLR Coalition advocated with the government for major reforms needed in rape laws by identifying patterns, loopholes, and improvements needed to ensure a non-discriminatory, accountable, and transparent judicial process. The repeal of the Evidence Act is a result of the RLR coalition’s coordinated advocacy initiatives under its 10-Point Demand on Rape Law Reform . The Theory of Change remains relevant and will continue to be used by UN Women for the achievement of this outcome. This achievement will protect the right and dignity of a rape survivor in getting justice and will strengthen the advocacy demands of CSOs towards discriminatory law reformation. The 8th FYP, for the first time, recognizes the importance of women’s unpaid care work and includes SDG 5.4.1 indicator in its results and reporting framework, to measure the proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work. The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA) furthered this priority and made a strong commitment at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris in June 2021, to work closely with Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to address the unpaid care work issue. To this end, UN Women, together with ILO is supporting the government to develop a national programme on unpaid care work, based on the findings from Time Use Survey published in 2022. The data from the Time Use Survey is critical in translating the government’s commitment into action; it allows for estimating the burden of women’s unpaid work and to develop analysis to better design and adopt necessary laws, policies, programme to promote women‘s empowerment within the households, workplace, and society. The first ever Time Use Survey was completed and published by BBS, supported by UN Women as part of its global programme "Women Count". The Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) is an important instrument to mobilize public and private resources for accelerating the achievement of SDGs by 2030. The UN - namely UNDP, UNCDF, ILO, UN Women, and Resident Coordinator Office - is supporting the Government of Bangladesh to develop the INFF. As part of this, the UN jointly with the Economic Relations Division (ERD) of the Ministry of Finance, developed the first-ever national financing roadmap for SDGs. UN Women contributed by developing the gender analysis for the INFF that reveals an allocation of USD 54 billion is required until 2030 to address the commitments made under SDG-5. A detailed financing framework is developed with ERD, to identify the funding required to address all SDGs targets in Bangladesh. The UN responds to the 8 th FYP (2020-2025) Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) priorities by placing ‘’Gender Equality and Elimination of Gender-based Violence”, as a strategic and cross-cutting priority in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2022-2026. The UN has strengthened accountability to advancing GEWE through improved gender mainstreaming across their joint programmes. Seven out of nine operational UN joint programmes, have visibly mainstreamed gender with sex-disaggregated and gender-sensitive indicators and data and gender analysis, as identified in the Gender Scorecard Annual reporting 2022. The UN Country Team (UNCT) also invested in strengthening staff and personnel capacity with tools like UNCT Gender Equality Marker (GEM) to effectively track and analyze system-wide gender expenditure. The lessons from the training will be taken forward through a roadmap, that consists of regular dialogue and a quality assurance process meant to strengthen gender-related programmatic efforts, financial investments, and results on GEWE.Disclaimer and notes
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).