Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. Bangladesh is a parliam entary democracy. Its capital is Dhaka.

With a population of approximately 150 million inhabitants, Bangladesh is the 7th most populous nation in the world and with more than 1000 people per square kilometre, the world’s most densly populated country.

With a GDP per capita of approximately 1500 US-Dollar in 2008, Bangladesh is among the poorest countries in the world. Despite these hurdles, the country has achieved an average annual growth rate of 5% since 1990, according to the World Bank.

Obstacles to growth include frequent cyclones and floods, inefficient state-owned enterprises, mismanaged port facilities, a growth in the labour force that has outpaced jobs, inefficient use of energy resources (such as natural gas), insufficient power supplies, slow implementation of economic reforms, political infighting and corruption.

Shariatpur is a district in the Dhaka Division of central Bangladesh with approximately 1 million inhabitants, of which most are employed in the agricultural sector. Most people living in the district of Sharitpur are poor and do not have a chance to pull themselves out of poverty, except if they are granted access to financial services such as microcredits.