Published: 12:29 AM, 12 July 2026
The Road from Demographic Burden to Demographic Dividend: The Human Capital Imperative for Bangladesh
The population is one of the basic elements of state formation. State formation cannot be imagined without population. Population is called the wealth of a state. But instead of being the wealth of the state, the overpopulation then became a burden for the state.
When the world's population reached 5 billion, the United Nations realized the need to control overpopulation. And for this UN has to create awareness among the people. And in an effort to create public awareness, the United Nations decided to observe a day as World Population Day. And that day is July 11. July 11 is observed as the World Population Day across the world. Every year, the United Nations and the world celebrates this day through various events to create awareness among the people about the population.
This day was first observed on July 11, 1987, under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program. In this context, the UN General Assembly has been observing World Population Day since 1989 with the theme of creating awareness among the people around the world.
The primary goal of the day was to raise awareness among the people about family planning methods. Many women and their families cannot pay attention to health due to illiteracy and poverty. In that case, they die during or after childbirth. Studies have shown that everyday around 800 women in the world die in childbirth due to lack of knowledge about pregnancy or childbirth. Therefore, the main goal of this day is to educate people about the importance of family planning and to raise more awareness.
Although population is described as a ‘resource‘, overpopulation in the 21st century is a burden to the world. And this overpopulation is one of the challenges of today's world. According to experts, malnutrition, lack of adequate education, unemployment, lack of medical treatment, etc.——are at the root of the basic humanproblems such as overpopulation.
The world's population is growing day by day. According to the World Health Organization, 250 babies are born every minute in the world. According to researchers, it is possible to accommodate a maximum of 200-300 crore people in the amount of resourcesin the world.
And with the increase in this population, innumerable new problems are being added to the nature and environment. There is no food supply at the rate at which the world's population is growing. That is, the population is growing at a geometric rate, and food production is growing at a mathematical rate. According to a study, about 25,000 people die everyday in the world due to malnutrition and malnutrition.
One of the main causes of environmental pollution is population growth. In addition, the world is facing many adverse reactions such as shortage of potable water, air toxicity, depletion of resources, housing problems, depletion of the ozone layer, etc. Adding to that is global warming. And at the root of this is population growth.
If the world's population grows too much or too much population growth cannot be controlled, then it is naturally destroyed (According to Malthusian Theory).
We have seen its real reflection at different times across the world. Millions of people have been destroyed from the world due to the Pandemic called Coronavirus. This is a real example of natural destruction.
The current world population is over 8 billion. And the current population of Bangladesh is about 169.8 million. According to the latest report of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the country's current population stands at 16,98,28,911. At the current rate of population growth, the country's population will reach 22 crore by 2050. Family planning programs have played a major role in reducing population growth in Bangladesh. In 1975, 6 percent of married women used birth control pills. Now 66 percent of women use it. In the same time, the rate of birth control pills in India was around 10 percent, now it is 60 percent. In Pakistan the rate is 30 percent. Despite being ahead of its neighbors, Bangladesh still lacks birth control supplies in remote areas.
China is one of the countries in the world that has taken various steps to control the population. They have strictly enforced the ‘one child policy.’ There is also a provision of severe punishment if any citizen doesn't obey it. Again, there are many countries or regions that have succeeded in controlling the populationwithout taking drastic measures like China. Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, Kerala and West Bengal in India can be mentioned in this case.
The methods they have adopted include educating and make people conscious, making health care more accessible, significantly reducing infant and maternal mortality rates, stopping child marriage and making contraceptive methods accessible to people. It is to be hoped that Bangladesh has recently emerged as one of the least successful developing countries in reducing population growth.
Despite this achievement, population is still a major problem in Bangladesh. Because the rate of population density is the highest here. Deficits in turning population into resources are having a negative impact on our socio-economic life. Unemployment, poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy are on the rise due to population growth.
In a country, population becomes a resource only when the basic needs of every citizen can be fulfilled. But there are still major limitations in fulfilling these needs. Inadequate infrastructure, social security, lack of planning in the education system are not going to turn the entire population into effective humanresources. In many cases, there has seen stagnancy and inequality. In order to turnthe population into human resources, it is essential to fill these gaps.
If the total population of Bangladesh is divided according to age, then 0-14 year olds constitute 29.4% of the total population, 15-59 year olds 63.6%, 60 over 7% and 80 over 0.9%. A large part of the population of Bangladesh about 100 million people between the ages of 15 to 59 years, most of whom are capable of working. If this large number of working people cannot be made efficient, then the challenges facing the country will be difficult to face. The overall development of the country will be hampered step by step.
Another major problem of populationgrowth is people trending to go to capital. At present, according to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospect, the population of Dhaka is currently 1 crore 80 lakhs, which will reach 2 crore 80 lakhs by 2030. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the population of Dhaka city is 1 crore 2 lakhs. It is estimated that by the year 2050, Dhaka will be the third most populous city in the world. Based on the models of population growth, such information appears in a new list made by the Global Cities Institute of the University of Toronto, Canada. All government ministries, departments, head offices of departments, even large private companies and institutions, all major and specialized hospitals, banks, insurances, and educational institutions are situated in Dhaka.
Due to lack of proper planning and foresight, everything in Bangladesh has become Dhaka-centric and no other city has developed near Dhaka yet. Therefore, decentralization has become urgent in the interest of balanced distribution of labor in proportion to population and balanced development.
Bangladesh is now in a very complex situation in terms of population density. As a result of the presence of 1,119 people per square kilometer, various problems have arisen in all spheres of social, economic, political and cultural life starting from the natural environment and the problem is increasing day by day. As a result of climate change, these problems will become more acute in the future.
As a result of the predominance of all other central facilities including industrialization and urbanization, people's move to capital is increasing day by day. As a result, the population of the capital is increasing. And with it, the pollution is increasing. At present, Dhaka is the second most polluted city in the world. Which is a thunderbolt signal for us. So, to protect the environment, we need to pay special attention to population control to prevent pollution.
In order to turn the population into humanresources, the people of the country have to be educated and trained through education and training. They need to be enlightened in the light of education. Especially in technical education, the population needs to be developed as skilled.
The more a country in the world has been able to bring its people into contact with education, the more it has been able to develop human resources. Moreover, the educated population is an asset for the country. Because educated people are aware of their rights, duties, and responsibilities. As a result, if the people of the country are educated, it will bring overall welfare for the country and the nation.
Even if the population of the country is large, there is no problem if that population is skilled or it is possible to develop them as skilled. So, we have to focus on building our population as efficient. Only then can we turn our huge population into human resources. Then we will be able to build the desired prosperous Bangladesh.
Emran Emon is an eminent
journalist, columnist and a global
affairs analyst. He can be reached
