Thread by @sd268

Bangladesh’s excellent human development/social indicators are deservedly lauded as far better than India’s, but I was curious how they compared to West Bengal, arguably a very good comparator. So here are some data. 1/

Total Fertility Rate: West Bengal - 1.6 (2016 estimate); Bangladesh - 2.17 (2017 estimate). So both Bengals have dramatically reduced their birth rates, but West Bengal has actually done even better and is now well below replacement levels of fertility. 2/

Literacy: West Bengal (77.1%) again higher than Bangladesh (72.8%). WB rate is from 2011 and Bangladesh’s is the UNESCO estimate for 2017, so the gap may have changed assuming both continued to become more literate. 3/

IMR (infant mortality rate): West Bengal - 25 per 1,000 live births; Bangladesh -26.9. Very similar, and impressive reductions in both! Bangladesh’s U5MR (under five mortality) is 32.9; WB’s seems to be a bit under 30 (can’t find exact figure). 4/

Underweight children: 31.6% in West Bengal; 54.6% in Bangladesh (all figures 2016-16). Here West Bengal seems to have done dramatically better than its cousin across the border, but these are still very high rates of child malnutrition. 5/

Fully immunized children,% of total: 84.4% in West Bengal, and 81% in Bangladesh (but Bangladesh data slightly older so the gap may be even smaller or may not exist). Both have expanded vaccination programs effectively. 5/

Maternal mortality rate: Bangladesh - 176 per 1,000 live births. West Bengal: 112. Here West Bengal seems to have done a lot better. 7/

Sex ratio at birth is 960 in West Bengal and 961 in Bangladesh- identical!! Neither is favorable, but neither is terrible by South Asian standards. 8/

Women’s labor force participation: Bangladesh (36%); West Bengal (25%). In this respect West Bengal has done far worse than Bangladesh (& WB’s female LFF is low even by India’s abysmal standards - only a few states fare worse. 9/

Sanitation coverage is much better in Bangladesh. 51% of households in West Bengal have “improved sanitation facilities” as of 2015-16, while the figure for Bangladesh is 61% (2015 figure).

Life expectancy at birth is 73.4 in Bangladesh and 70.2 in West Bengal, though these data are slightly older so the gap may be a bit smaller.

So West Bengal’s indicators are similar to Bangladesh’s - some better (e.g., MMR, TFR), some worse (e.g., sanitation, women’s LFF) - but perhaps the state deserves as much credit for human development as Bangladesh deservedly gets? Caveat: BD started out further behind on most.