1.

Introduction: In global and regional context, Bangladesh population has drawn considerable attention of the social scientists, policy planners and international organizations. In global context, Bangladesh is now worlds eighth populous country having 148.5 million people, but occupying only 3000th part of the worlds land space. Such a huge concentration of population in small land space cannot but draw ones attention. About 2.3 million people are currently being added to its existing population; and such pace will continue in the next one decade and a half, even if Bangladesh achieves 2- child family norm (i.e. TFR of 2.1 or NRR=1) in any time between 2015-2020. In regional context, South Asian countries including Bangladesh comprise worlds one-fourth population and contribute 24% to its annual increase of 80 million people. Therefore, focus on population increase lies in south Asia in which Bangladesh portion appears to be most volatile because of high population density, poor land-man ratio, slow economic growth, massive unemployment, huge working age population relative to the size of job market etc. The population problem arisen out of past population growth which was regarded once as Number one national problem has lost its focus during the last one decade and a half owing to other overriding problems, such as, corruption and deteriorating law and order. Meanwhile, it has taken a new dimension that has to be recognized; and necessary civilized measures need to be taken to offset the ill -effects of phenomenal growth in human number. In fact, keeping in view this demographic development, this paper has been written. The Central purpose of this paper is to discuss Bangladesh population and its prospects and problems as well as some measures to manage its upcoming huge population. Keeping this broad purpose in view, the paper is structured into four (4) sections. Section 1 deals with current population scenario its age structure, trends and urban-rural distribution; section 2 deals with the demographic prospects, momentum and stabilization; while in section 3, we discuss various implications of upcoming huge population. In section 4, some broad hints are given for management of growing population and also, as strategies for demo-economic development.

Page | 1

2.0 Current population Scenario: 2.1 Age Distribution and Growth Trend:
As already stated, Bangladesh population is currently estimated to be 148 million. Such a huge population are squeezed in an area of 1, 47,000 s 2 km which gives the population density of 1020 persons per s 2 km. Population is characterized by a high proportion of young age population of below 15 years (40%) and reproductive women, 15-49 years (39% of all women). Both indicate the substantial growth potential of future population. Unlike developed countries, our population is slowly aging. Population of 65 years and above represents about 4.0 percent of the total. As life expectancy is gaining, the size of the elderly population will increase and thereby, increasing the dependency burden. In recent years, there has been tremendous improvement in some demographic parameters. For example, infant mortality rate (IMR) was reduced to 52 in 2006 from 65/1000 live births in 2004. Under-5 mortality rate declined up to 65 from 88/1000 children under-5 during the same period. Total fertility rate (TFR) had declined to 2.7 in 2006-7 from 3.3 in 2000. Urban- rural difference in fertility is quite substantial. As expected, TFR for rural woman is 2.8 and that of urban woman is 2.4. TFR was plateued i.e. 3.4-3.3 during 1991-2000, followed by sharp decline by 0.6 during this decade. It varied widely by administrative Divisions. Khulna reached replacement level of fertility (2.1), followed by Rajshahi (2.4), Dhaka (2.7), Barisal (2.8), Chittagong (3.2) and Sylhet (3.7) (BDHS, 2007).

2.2 Contraceptive Practice Rate (CPR):

Closely related to the decline in TFR is the increase in CPR .In 1975, TFR was 6.3, and CPR was 7.7(BFS, 1975) Since then, CPR has steadily increased up to 58% in 2004 followed by decline of 2% i.e. 56% in 2006 which was mostly in traditional methods having trivial impact on fertility. The percentage of modern method users continues upward trend. Sylhet and Chittagong were found to be low performaning scope for improvement. areas, having considerable

Page | 2

2.3 Population Distribution:

The 2001 Population Census revealed rural-urban population distribution was 77:23. In recent years, rural-urban migration has increased steadily. Expert opinion is that current rural urban population distribution is 73:27. Almost 85% of the rural migrants are absorbed in four main cities namely, Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi and thus overcrowding these cities, threatening the ecology and complicating the task of managing the urban life.

2.4 Plateauing of Population Growth Rate:

Bangladesh population growth rate has not declined much during the last one decade or so owing to stagnation in fertility and mortality with the result that there has been little change in population growth rate. In my view, it has been hovering around 1.7% to 1.6% during the preceding decade. The estimated crude birth rate was 26/1000 population (BDHS, 2007) and crude death rate (CDR) is estimated to be 10/1000 population. The resultant growth rate is 1.6%. In 2007 the rate of population growth rate of Bangladesh, according to United Nations and other agencies is still 1.65 percent. If this rate continues, Bangladesh population will double itself (i.e. 300 million) in 2050.

3.0 Demographic Prospects, Momentum and Stabilization: 3.1 Prospects:

Death matters no less than birth indeed more, to demographers. As public health measures are likely to further improve, deaths decline particularly among the infants and thus, more babies will live to grow up. So a countrys population becomes more youthful as in the case now in Bangladesh. More young adults mean more births. Birth rate may decline further through family planning program efforts reinforced by non-family planning
Page | 3

measures like female education, skill training, use of media etc. All these measures will eventually help create a conducive environment to reduce birth and death rates leading to population stabilization. But when? In seeking answer to this question, this analyst offers a range of projections, hereinafter, called variants. Variant 1 assumes replacement level fertility (i.e. just over 2 children) in 2012. Variant 2 and variant 3 assume the same fertility level in 2016 and 2021 respectively. Discussion that follows will mainly concentrate on medium variant projection (i.e. variant -2) to illustrate the future population stabilization and a change in various demographic parameters in the next four decades. A countrys growth potential is built in the age structure of its population. Currently our age structure is heavily Pyramidal with a large base of young age population. Notwithstanding an elaborate and modestly persuasive family planning program, fertility reduction to replacement level may be difficult to achieve by 2016 unless far more vigorous efforts are made at the grass root level by the health and family planning workforce. Assuming that public and private sectors efforts in this respect shall continue and that public health measures will augment considerably to thwart the menace of deadly diseases, Bangladesh is quite likely to achieve its demographic goal of NRR=1 by 2016. If the current pace of progress continues, life expectancy at birth is likely to increase any where between 68-70 years by then.

3.2 Implications:
The medium variant projection that assumes NRR=1 and life expectancy at birth of 68 years by 2016, shows that Bangladeshs population will increase up to 172.3 million in 2021 and 218.04 million in 2051 which mean addition of 78.0 million more people to the present population in a span of four decades. Population growth rate will be reduced from current level of 1.5 percent to 0.56 percent in 2051.The implications of this projection are that there shall be a considerable shift in the age-structure of population.

Page | 4

For example, the size of the population below 15 years shall be 49 million in 2051 against 52.4 in 2001.

Figure: The age-structure of population The size of the school age population in absolute number shall decrease to 32.4 million against 34.2 in 2001; while the working age population (15-64) will increase up to 155 million (as against 85 million now), aggravating further the strained labour market; and number of elderly population (i.e. 65 year+) shall be 29.8 million as against 5.8 million now requiring old age supports and medical care. The other obvious implications include: population density of 4157 persons per square mile as against the present density of 2591 persons. The existing man-land ratio of 1:14 decimals shall be reduced to a half. Because per capita availability of arable land will be reduced per person food production will be reduced too. Too many people in too little space will create enormous demands for public services which the sitting Government may not afford and thereby, it may destabilize the Government. Thus, one may go on relating this growing population to other social and economic objects, but that will make one instantly feel bad about having too many people in too little space.

Page | 5

3.3

Population Momentum and Stabilization:

Population growth momentum has already started; and various pressures have already been generated. The people have started feeling the pinch of it. So, population will keep going, even if Bangladesh achieves the replacement level fertility. The timing of population stabilization depends on the time when replacement level fertility will be achieved. In our present case, if Bangladesh can achieve NRR=1 by 2016, population will stabilize by 2070 at around 230 million, followed by a stationary population in next 12-15 years, (i.e. number of births will be equal to number of deaths and resultant growth rate is zero). In medium variant projection, status of stationary population in Bangladesh is likely to be achieved around 2086 and thereafter, number of deaths will exceed number of births i.e. minus growth rate will begin which will eventually decelerate the countrys population as is the case with Russia, Germany and some of the European countries now. The deceleration process (i.e. minus-growth rate) in Bangladesh shall start according to variant-2 after 2080, and by this time, population shall grow up to 240 million. A great deal of population momentum is coming from low income families, such as poor, ultra poor and other lower income groups who together comprise 50 percent of the society. These are the people among whom infant mortality and maternal mortality rates are the highest. Total fertility rate is twice as much of the upper, middle and high income groups. They are the ones who have very little access to education beyond primary, health care services and other benefits which government and society usually offer to the individuals. So if the goal of replacement level fertility is to be achieved any time in the next decade, our policies, programmers and resources should be directed towards their welfare. There are, however, some grounds for optimism. A large number of women want children fewer than ever and the younger the women, the fewer they want. The recent surveys (BDHS 2007) of married women reveal that there is a considerable unmet demand. Meeting this demand is not restricted to modern methods of contraception; even traditional methods help plan family size as in some countries. But for this to happen, education, use of media, arousing peoples consciousness and democratizing social and political institutions at all levels to allow the hitherto neglected people to participate and
Page | 6

involve themselves in all kinds of state sponsored development works are essential. If we can create an enabling environment through such processes and other civilized means, demographic momentum effect can be significantly reduced and the timing for population stabilization may be advanced a few years early.

4.0 Population Management strategies:

Declining fertility and mortality will not stop population from growing even if Bangladesh achieves 2-child family norm by 2016. The medium variant projection (Mabud, 2008) that assumes this level of fertility in 2016, there will be 218 million people in 2051 and 240 million in 2101. Managing these huge populations on small land space shall be the major responsibility of all incoming Governments of Bangladesh. If future leadership and the Government remain oblivious of this responsibility, both the country and people will suffer a lot. Managing population will require some deliberate planned actions, such as:

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

Balanced distribution of rural-urban migrants; Relocation of industries from the cities; Increasing peoples mobility; and Multi sectoral involvement

4.1 Balanced distribution of rural-urban migrants:

Managing urban population in four big cities, namely, Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna shall be one of the major tasks of future Governments in Bangladesh. At present, urban-rural population distribution, as noted elsewhere in this paper is 27:73. Among the rural migrants, about 80.0 percent are absorbed in these these cities and the rest in the remaining 60 district towns of the country. Imagine a demographic catastrophe when the
Page | 7

population of these four cities shall be doubled in the next 14-23 years which will almost paralyze the city life. More schools, more spacious roads and public transportation facilities, more supply of gas, electricity, pure water etc are to be afforded for the city dwellers. All these shall require 15-17 times larger investments than the Governments current spending. Besides, law and order situation will deteriorate to such an extent that it may frequently destabilize the Government.

Table 1: Projected population of four major cities of Bangladesh, 2008 and years of doubling the population.

Cities

Population 2001 (in million)

in Estimated present Estimated population (in million) 11.0 5.0 2.0 1.0 19.0 present rate (%) 5.0 4.5 4.0 3.0 -

Doubling Growth population

of

the (in

millions) and years 22.0(14 yrs)* 10.0 (15.5) 4.2 (17.5) 2.0 (23.3) -

Dhaka Chittagong Khulna Rajshahi Total

8.6 3.4 1.3 0.7 14.0

*Figures in parenthesis represent number of years of doubling the population.

As a part of Governments population management strategy in urban area, Government may attempt to reverse the current trend through planned infrastructural development in remaining district Headquarters and selected Upazilas so as to upgrade them as the second tier modern cities and towns in a period of ten years. These emerging cities and
Page | 8

towns should have proper connectivity with big cities along with all modern facilities so that rural migrants become attracted to go there for employment, business and education and eventually for settlement. The emerging cities and towns should have education, business, industries, spacious roads, public transportation facilities etc. This kind of urban center economic growth in favor of peripheral cities and towns is desirable for balanced growth of urbanization and economic development. This scheme will create a significant employment and income opportunities for the disadvantaged people of the underdeveloped urban areas. Hence, rural migrants will be attracted to go there rather

than coming to highly polluted mega city and port cities. As a result, current imbalance in rural migrants distribution between big cities and small cities shall narrow down and may ultimately take a reverse trend in a period of ten years from hence. It is assumed that 70.0 percent rural migrants may go to newly emerging towns and the rest 30% may come to the big cities. This kind of shift may take time, but eventually it will happen, provided we pursue the above policy strategy.

4.2 Relocation of Industries:

One of the reasons for overcrowding, congestion and pollution is the location of many industries in the heart of the big cities and their adjoining areas. As a strategy for urban population management, and minimizing the urban problems, relocation of the industries to a suitably located distant place is necessary. Countries having problems similar to ours pursued this kind of policy strategy. South Korea is a case in example. Since 1980, it has been pursuing this policy to reduce population pressure in its capital Seoul and thus, it was able to reduce its congestion by at least, 20% percent. In order to materialize this strategic objective, Government needs to provide land at a cheaper rate and tax rebate to the affected industrialists together with other essential facilities like water, gas, and electricity, as well as connectivity with the Capital and Ports.

Page | 9

4.3 Enhancing Peoples Mobility:

Enhancing peoples mobility beyond the national boundary through their capacity development could be a worthwhile strategic option for population management and socio-economic development. Bangladesh has not yet fully explored this possibility. For sheer necessity and craving for better living, about three million people of different skillmix are currently working overseas, and remitting substantial part of their income to their families and thus, augmenting the countrys foreign exchange reserve. But Bangladeshs contribution of workforce is still disproportionate to its population size and demand of the international market. In order to avail the opportunities which now exit, Bangladesh should have a planned action for increasing its production capacity in internationally marketable skill-mix, such as doctors, nurses, dental surgeons, various health technologies, engineers, architects as well as technicians of different varieties. Fortunately, it has now considerable educational and training institutions; and many of the institutions, particularly those in the private sector needs significant improvement in terms of faculty development, physical space, equipment etc. Government should encourage the Banking Sector to come forward to invest significantly in human resources production sector at a nominal rate of interest. In fact, this strategic approach calls for serious rethinking of the Government, Management of all HRD institutions and the Bankers community.

At present, sector ministries like Health and Education are producing different kind of workforce primarily to meet their respective requirements regardless of population consideration. HRD production of health sector, for instance, which totally interacts with population, is not in accord with population growth. Its production of doctors, nurses and different technologists are far below the international threshold level. One exercise carried out by this analyst ( Mabud,2006) reveals that if the current rate of production of 2800 doctors per annum continues, Bangladesh shall have to wait another 30 years to reach a threshold level of 1:2000 people from the current level of 1:3900. A somewhat dismal scenario prevails in our production of engineers, architects and different technicians. In order to meet the domestic requirements generated by growing population and also the
Page | 10

international market demand, we need to produce more. For this purpose our admission policies need upward revision. All HRD institutions need to be strengthened; and privatepublic-development partners collaboration for enhanced investment need to be ensured. For this, a high priority should be given to human resources development (HRD). At present, Health sectors annual production of doctors is about 2800 compared to 6000 in Pakistan. India produces more skilled persons than its domestic requirements and affords to supply to meet with international market demand. Thus, they enhance their peoples mobility through capacity building. This is what Bangladesh should do now. Of the factors of population growth- birth, death and migration, Bangladesh has quite a number of programs to reduce birth and death rates, but nothing to influence migration, i.e. third factor of population growth. Enhancing peoples mobility through their capacity development could be a potential factor for population mobility within and beyond the national boundary. If the people can go abroad for employment, international trade and education and stay there for several years, many of them will tend to stay there eventually. If not all, at least, some of them and their children may not return to their place of origin. Thus, in one generation or a little later, enhancing mobility through capacity development will have beneficial impact on the size of countrys population. If this policy is pursued by the Government of Bangladesh, my projected population size of 218 million in Bangladesh in 2051 can be reduced to 210 million, and projected size of 240 million to 220 million in 2101.In order to achieve Bangladesh demographic goal and manage its upcoming huge population, it should urgently prepare a National Master Plan for capacity development for the next 15 years. Since Sector Ministries operate from their narrow perspective, and hardly realize the national perspective, Bangladesh Planning Commission may be entrusted to prepare National Plan for human resources development. Preparation of five years plan, annual plan, Poverty Reduction Strategy plan, Perspective Plans etc are included in its terms of reference. Preparing Master Plan for National capacity development in cooperation with relevant Ministries may as well be taken as another important undertaking of the Planning Commission.

Page | 11

4.4 Multi Sectoral Involvement:

Since population cut across all sectors of economy, their involvement and participation in all population activities are, therefore, essential .Bangladesh Population Policy is unequivocal on this issue and has made ample rooms for their participation. But the ground reality is that they are yet not fully involved nor the National Population Council (NPC) has been made fully functional. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which provides secretariat support and stewardship needs to be fully tuned with the spirit of Bangladesh population policy. The sooner (NPC) it can be made fully functional and create enabling environment for other Ministries to play their respective role as envisaged in the national population policy, the better for the nation. Also given the demographic development and the urgency of the situation, Bangladesh Planning Commission may wish to consider the aforesaid population management strategies, while designing its planning and development strategies.

Page | 12

5. Overview:
Bangladesh is one of the world's most densely populated countries. With more than 164 million individuals (2010) in a country about twice the size of New Brunswick, the resulting population pressures are huge. If you are living in Bangladesh, you are likely to be poor and very vulnerable to natural disasters. You may also be part of the rapidly expanding youth segment of the population-some 45 percent of the population is under the age of 15. Bangladesh ranks 129 out of 169 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's 2010 human development index. Natural disasters such as cyclones and severe flooding occur with regular frequency, causing damage, disease, and loss of food crops. Yet during the last 12 years, Bangladesh has made important development gains. Both population growth and the incidence of poverty have steadily declined, and gross domestic product growth rate has averaged 6 percent per year. The proportion of the population living below the national poverty line has fallen to 40 percent in 2005 from 59 percent in 1991. Considerable progress has been made toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals, notably in health and education. Successful and peaceful elections were held in December 2008. Bangladesh's many development challenges include:

Poor quality health and education services, with unequal access to those services by the poor, especially by women Weak public sector institutions inhibiting economic advancement and prosperity Environmental difficulties due to the impact of global climate change and increasing population density

Page | 13

6. Findings:
In late 1999 the world's population reached 6 billion and was growing at an estimated 1.3% per year. This growth rate is characteristic of the last 100 years or so. World population reached 1 billion around 1790, 2 billion around 1927, and 4 billion in 1974. Many people have expressed concerns about this rate of growth as well as the size of the world's population. If this growth rate remains constant, then world population will double every 50 years, giving a population of 12 billion by 2050, 24 billion by 2100, and so on. (Such growth is called geometric increase.) They say that current growth is unsustainable in that the natural resources to feed and house such populations will soon be depleted. In fact, some state that the world's current population is unsustainable. In other words, even if the world's population remained at 6 billion various natural resources would be in such short supply within a century that wars and mass starvation would result. Additionally, these people claim that this growing world population will cause devastation to the environment. Various predicted disasters include pollution, species extinction, sea level rise, etc. Can such predictions be true? A good scientific hypothesis makes predictions which can be verified by later observations. In the 1960s it was predicted that by the year 2000 the world's population would be 7.5 billion and that the world would be running out of oil, causing a global economic crisis. These predictions were false: by late 2000 the world's population will be 6.1 billion, and increased oil production has helped improve the global economy. Where did these "experts" go wrong? First, population growth does not really continue geometrically. Population growth for individual societies goes through a "demographic transistion." In short, societies over time transition from low population growth to high growth rates, then back to low growth rates again. There are three phases:

Agricultural: Pre-industrial societies have little medical technology and poor sanitation. As a result, they have high birth rates and high death rates. Since
Page | 14

population growth results from how much births outpace deaths, there is little population growth. (This was the world before 1800.)

Developing: When industrialization begins, technology is introduced that substantially reduces the death rate. However, the birth rate changes little. This results in rapid population growth. (The U.S. was in this phase in the 1800s, and most third world countries are in this phase now.)

Industrialized: Once everyone in the society has increased access to resources, people tend to choose to have smaller families. As a result, the birth rate drops closer to the death rate. Population growth is low again (and in some cases is zero). (Western Europe has fully transistioned to this phase.)

What this means is that economic development will inevitably shift a society (and the world) to low population growth. In fact, the current 1.3% annual growth of world population is down from a peak of 2.0% in the 1960s and early 1970s. Currently the world's population is projected to peak before 2100 at perhaps 11 billion. But is even this population unsustainable? The pessimists point to famine and disease in the third world as evidence of "overpopulation." However, as Nicholas Eberstadt points out, "Overpopulation" is a problem that has been misidentified and misdefined. The term has no scientific definition or clear meaning. The problems typically associated with overpopulation (hungry families, squalid and overcrowded living conditions) are more properly understood as issues of poverty. The point is: famine and disease are consequences of poverty (limited access to resources), not high population density. Japan has a far higher population density that Ethiopia, but the greater wealth of Japan grants it a far higher standard of living. Moreover, the world has enough resources to feed and shelter any foreseeable world population. For example, current agricultural technology is capable of feeding a population of 80 billion using less than 10% of the Earth's land for crops.
Page | 15

The solution to improving the living conditions for the present and future world population is increased access to wealth and resources--in other words, a free market economy. Taiwan has five times the population density of mainland China, but has a standard of living ten times higher. This is because Taiwan has a free market economy, whereas mainland China's communist government still controls both the economy and individual human ingenuity. Opponents of free markets have variously suggested or imposed various methods to "control" population growth. The most extreme case is mainland China, with severe penalties for families who have more than one child and (despite official claims) mandatory abortions against the will of the mothers, sometimes in the ninth month of pregnancy. Those who prefer to limit human freedom as a solution often praise China's policies in general.

Page | 16

7. Analysis:
International Day of Older Persons -2010 is being observed today (October 1) throughout the world under the leadership of United Nations as well as in Bangladesh through different programmes to recognise the contribution of older persons and to examine issues that affect their lives. The theme of this year's commemoration is "Older persons and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)". Although there is no universally accepted definition in most gerontological literature, people above 60 years of age are considered as 'old' and taken to be the 'elderly' segment of the population of a country. In Bangladesh, persons aged 60 or above are considered to be elderly. However, in reality people in this country become older even before the age of 60 because of poverty, physical hard work and, inability and illness due to malnutrition as well as for geographical condition. The growing number of elderly population is a very common phenomenon worldwide. As the socio-economic impact of ageing population on the society is evident, it is important to consider not only the degree but also the pace of the changes in the age structure. In Bangladesh, 6.9 percent of itspopulation was classified as elderly in 1950. The percentage of elderlypopulation started to decline for next 55 years and this percentage of agedpopulation of Bangladesh is projected to increase 8.0 percent by 2020, 11.9 percent by 2035 and 17.0 percent by 2050. During the last 50 years, the median age of the Bangladeshi population decreased by about 2 years from nearly 22 years in 1950 to nearly 20 years in 2000. But it is projected to increase almost by 15 years over the next half century i.e. from 2000 to 2050. The ageing index i.e. the ratio of the people aged 60 or over to children under 15 years of age might be about 5.7 times higher over the next half century i.e. between 2000 and 2050 for Bangladesh due to the growing number of older persons and reduction of young population. Also, the old-age dependency ratio will be almost triple from 5.4 to 16.2 in Bangladesh between 2000 and 2050. In Bangladesh, elderly population has become an important social concern, because like many other developing countries, there is no social security system. In view of the size of the population, scarcity of resources, existing poverty, insufficient health facilities and
Page | 17

absence of social security, ageing is going to be a major problem in Bangladesh. The older persons in Bangladesh are still passing their days amidst the tender care and support mostly provided by their extended families without any remarkable backing from the state. Neither an inclusive conceptualization nor a comprehensive understanding in association with social security has been made in the national policy agenda of the country. However, the most basic and innovative policy for the poor older people in Bangladesh, the 'Old Age Allowance Programme' (Boyoshko Bhata Karmashuchi) was formulated in Fifth Five Year Plan (1997-2002). The goal of this policy is in accordance with the goal of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) as well as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), where sustainable improvement in health, nutrition and family welfare status of the people, particularly of the poor and vulnerable groups including women, child and the elderly were addressed along with their economic and social emancipation.

Page | 18

8. Conclusion:
The population problem arises out of past population growth which was regarded once as Number one national problem has lost its focus during the last one decade and a half owing to other overriding problems, such as, corruption and deteriorating law and order. Meanwhile, it has taken a new dimension that has to be recognized; and necessary civilized measures need to be taken to offset the ill -effects of phenomenal growth in human number. In fact, keeping in view this demographic development, this paper has been written. The Central purpose of this paper is to discuss Bangladesh population and its prospects and problems as well as some measures to manage its upcoming huge population. As already stated, Bangladesh population is currently estimated to be 148 million. Such a huge population is squeezed in an area of 1, 47,000 s 2 km which gives the population density of 1020 persons per s 2 km. Bangladesh population growth rate has not declined much during the last one decade or so owing to stagnation in fertility and mortality with the result that there has been little change in population growth rate. A countrys growth potential is built in the age structure of its population. A great deal of population momentum is coming from low income families, such as poor, ultra poor and other lower income groups who together comprise 50 percent of the society. These are the people among whom infant mortality and maternal mortality rates are the highest. At present, sector ministries like Health and Education are producing different kind of workforce primarily to meet their respective requirements regardless of population consideration. HRD production of health sector, for instance, which totally interacts with population, is not in accord with population growth.

Page | 19

Reference
1. Bangladesh Fertility Survey, 1975; Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka. 2. Bangladesh Population Census Report, 2001.Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Planning, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka. 3. Ibid; Population and Health Human Resources Development in Bangladesh Health Sector; CHPD, Independent University, Dhaka; 2006. 4. Mabud, Mohammed A: Bangladeshs Population Projection, 2001-2101. Organization for Population and Poverty Alleviation (OPPA),Dhaka;2008 5. National Institute of Population Research and Training, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka: Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS), 2007. 6. http://www.prb.org/Publications/PopulationBulletins/2010/worldpopulationhigh lights2010.aspx 7. http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=113291

Page | 20