1. Diverging pathsBangladesh and Mali

   Bangladesh and Mali: similar GDP per person in 1990, 2.9 times apart in 2025

   BangladeshMali

   Output per person a year, in 2021 dollars adjusted for price differences: $2,100 in Bangladesh and $1,900 in Mali in 1990; $8,700 and $3,000 in 2025. Bangladesh grew 4.2-fold; Mali rose 58%.

   Source: World Bank (WDI, ITU and UNESCO data); UN WPP 2024Open on the chart →

More findings

• Mali: more babies born than in Japan
• Bangladesh now has more people than Russia
• Bangladesh: mothers are younger on average than in 1950
• Bangladesh: 292 thousand more people died than usual in 2020–2021; officially 28 thousand died of COVID
• Bangladesh: in 2020–2023 net migration was lower than all 12 UN projections assumed
• Bangladesh’s Awami League in 2008 promised that life expectancy would reach 70 years by 2021. It came to 71.1

All findings →