Bangladesh

In the 2000s, Bangladesh the country had firm economic growth averaging 6% each year, and the attention has been drawn to the country as both a destination for foreign investment and a growing market with its scale of population of 163 million people on land 60% smaller than Japan, and ample as well as inexpensive labor force. Poverty has been reduced from 48.9% in 2000 to 24.3% in 2017 and Bangladesh was elevated from a low income to a lower middle income country status in 2015. However, the country still has been facing such challenges as poverty, frequent natural calamity and inadequate social and economic infrastructure etc. In order to achieve a transition to a middle income country by 2021 which is the national development goal of the government of Bangladesh, JICA has been providing assistance in almost all socio-economic sectors throughout the country. JICA aims to provide assistance to promote the inclusive and sustainable development, by accelerating and sustaining dynamic economic growth beyond the present level, and taking measures against the widening disparity and socialization associated with rapid economic growth. JICA has expanded activities dramatically and Bangladesh became the third largest partner country of Japan's ODA.