The Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment (DECA), a flagship initiative of the Digital Strategy, supports USAID Missions to better understand, work with, and support country digital ecosystems. The DECA looks at three pillars of a country’s digital ecosystem: (1) Digital Infrastructure and Adoption; (2) Digital Society, Rights, and Governance; and, (3) Digital Economy.

The Bangladesh DECA was carried out between November 2021 and May 2022. It included desk research, 101 key informant interviews, and was guided by USAID/Bangladesh’s 2020-2025 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS). Bangladesh’s digital ecosystem has steadily evolved over the last decade. There has been progress in almost all aspects of the ecosystem, from digital connectivity expansion to government digitalization to a tech-savvy e-commerce sector. Much of this has grown on the back of the Government of Bangladesh’s (GoB’s) Digital Bangladesh agenda, and a driven private sector has pushed it along. As it did in many countries across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated technology uptake and growth. Still, there is much progress to be made. Poor quality of internet services, limited digital literacy, and limited awareness and measures for safety online further risks widening the digital divide.