Bangladesh now uses 37% less energy per dollar of output than in 1990

Bangladesh’s economy has become less energy-hungry. In 1990 it took 2.30 megajoules (MJ) of primary energy to produce one dollar of GDP (constant purchasing-power-parity terms). By 2023 that had fallen to 1.46 MJ — a 37% decline.

2.30 → 1.46 MJ per $

Energy intensity of primary energy, 1990 to 2023 (SDG indicator 7.3.1).

The improvement was slow for two decades: intensity was 1.99 MJ in 2010 and 1.84 MJ in 2017. It then dropped to 1.71 MJ in 2018 and to 1.64 MJ in 2022, before falling a further 11% to 1.46 MJ in 2023, the largest one-year fall in the series.

Lower intensity means each unit of output needs less energy. The indicator is a ratio, so it can improve for several reasons: efficiency gains, a shift toward less energy-intensive activities such as services, or faster GDP growth relative to energy use. It does not show which of these is at work, and the source does not attribute the 2023 fall to any one cause.

Roughly 0.38 of the 0.84 MJ improvement since 1990 came after 2017. Whether that reflects deliberate efficiency policy or the changing structure of the economy is the open question for policymakers.

Source: UN SDG Global Database, indicator 7.3.1, energy intensity level of primary energy (EG_EGY_PRIM). Series are compiled by UN agencies from national energy statistics and are subject to revision.