Bangladesh's exports have shrunk from 20.2% of GDP in 2012 to 11.1% in 2025

Exports of goods and services reached 20.2% of GDP in 2012, the highest share on record in the World Bank series. By 2025 they were 11.1%.

20.2% → 11.1%

Exports of goods and services as a share of GDP, 2012 and 2025.

The decline was not smooth. The share eased to 17.3% in 2015, then fell to 13.9% in 2016 and stayed between 12.7% and 13.1% from 2017 to 2019. It dropped to 10.4% in 2020, recovered to 13.2% in 2023, and fell again to 10.5% in 2024 before edging up to 11.1% in 2025.

For comparison, the share was 12.3% in 2000 and 17.7% in 2008, so the latest figure is below its level at the start of the century.

A falling export share does not by itself mean exports shrank in dollar terms: it compares exports with the whole economy, so it also falls when domestic spending and incomes grow faster. The series therefore says that the economy has become less export-intensive, not why. It matters because Bangladesh’s growth model, and its ability to pay for imported fuel, food and machinery, has long leaned on selling goods abroad, and a thinner export base leaves less foreign exchange for the same import needs.

These are national-accounts estimates for fiscal years and can be revised.

Source: World Bank national accounts data, via World Bank WDI (NE.EXP.GNFS.ZS).