ABDUL BAYES, a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University, writes in the FINANCIAL EXPRESS:
Dr Abdul Mannan, a Senior Research Fellow of the Bangladesh Institute of Development (BIDS) scans through the demographic transition that Bangladesh has passed through over time. I would like to draw heavily on his observations. The historical trend of population growth rate in this country suggests that population almost doubled its size in 60 years for the first time. However, the second doubling took only 30 years – the population of 55.2 million in 1961 increased to 111.4 million in 1991. However, suffice it to say, population has almost doubled in 37 years for the third time from 76.4 million in 1974 to about 150 million in 2011. The demographic structure of Bangladesh’s population suggests that her population will continue to grow for decades to come even if replacement level of fertility is attained by the year 2051. This would be due to the population momentum inherent in the young age structure.
Population trends in Bangladesh from the beginning of 20th century seem to follow a clear pattern: READ MORE.