Bangladesh : The Path to Middle-Income Status from an Urban Perspective

Bangladesh seeks to attain middle-income status by 2021, the 50th anniversary of its independence. To accelerate growth enough to do so, it will need to undergo a structural transformation that will change the geography of economic production and urbanization. Critical to its transformation will be the creation of a globally competitive urban space, defined here as a space that has the capacity to innovate, is well connected internally and to external markets, and is livable (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD 2006; World Bank 2010). This study identifies what is unique about Bangladesh s process of urbanization and examines the implications for economic growth. Through the lens of Bangladesh s most successful industry, the garment sector, it describes the drivers of and constraints to urban competitiveness. Based on the findings, it provides policy directions to strengthen the competitiveness of Bangladesh s urban space in ways that will allow Bangladesh to reach middle-income status by 2021.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aparicio, Gabriela, Muzzini, Elisa
Language:English
en_US
Published: Washington, DC: World Bank 2013-03-22
Subjects:Urban space, Growth drivers, Garment sector, Urbanization, Population density, Peri-urbanization, specialization, Regional disparities, export processing zones, Dhaka, Chittagong City, Shift-share analysis, Location quotient,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/03/17473467/bangladesh-path-middle-income-status-urban-perspective
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/13113
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Summary:Bangladesh seeks to attain middle-income status by 2021, the 50th anniversary of its independence. To accelerate growth enough to do so, it will need to undergo a structural transformation that will change the geography of economic production and urbanization. Critical to its transformation will be the creation of a globally competitive urban space, defined here as a space that has the capacity to innovate, is well connected internally and to external markets, and is livable (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD 2006; World Bank 2010). This study identifies what is unique about Bangladesh s process of urbanization and examines the implications for economic growth. Through the lens of Bangladesh s most successful industry, the garment sector, it describes the drivers of and constraints to urban competitiveness. Based on the findings, it provides policy directions to strengthen the competitiveness of Bangladesh s urban space in ways that will allow Bangladesh to reach middle-income status by 2021.