Harman Patil (Editor)

Demographics of Bangladesh

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
0–14 years
  
31.62 (2015 est.)

65 and over
  
5.13

Population growth rate
  
1.2% annual change (2013)

GNI per capita
  
3,190 PPP dollars (2013)

15–64 years
  
63.25

Population
  
156.6 million (2013)

Life expectancy
  
70.30 years (2012)

Official language
  
Bengali

Demographics of Bangladesh httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsff

Birth rate
  
21.14 births/1,000 population (2015 est.)

Death rate
  
5.61 deaths/1,000 population (2015 est.)

Infant mortality rate
  
44.09 deaths/1,000 live births (2015 est.)

Fertility rate
  
2.21 births per woman (2012)

Bangladesh is largely ethnically homogeneous, and its name derives from the Bengali ethno-linguistic group which comprises 98% of the population. The Chittagong Hill Tracts, Sylhet, Mymensingh and North Bengal divisions are home to diverse indigenous peoples. There are many dialects of Bengali spoken throughout the region. The dialect spoken by those in Chittagong and Sylhet are particularly distinctive. The population is estimated at 169 million (2015). About 87% of Bangladeshis are Muslims, followed by Hindus (12%), Buddhists (1%) and Christians (0.5%).

Contents

Map of Bangladesh

Bangladesh has the highest population density in the world, excluding a handful of city-states and small countries with populations under 10m, such as Malta and Hong Kong.

Most of the demographic statistics below are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

The 2011 total population was 152,518,015 which ranks Bangladesh 8th in the world.

The baseline for population studies on Bangladesh is the official census which is conducted every 10 years, the last being in 2011.

Census

p=provisional figure

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (15.03.2011) (Census) :

Structure of the population (DHS 2014) Male: 37 672, Female: 39 641, Total: 77 313 :

Other sources

The following table lists various recent estimates of the population.

According to the OECD/World Bank population in Bangladesh increased from 1990 to 2008 with 44 million and 38% growth in population compared to 34% growth in India and 54% growth in Pakistan. The annual population growth 2007-2008 was 1.4% compared to India 1.35%, Pakistan 2.2%, Dem. Rep. of Congo 2.9%, Tanzania 2.9%, Syria 3.5% or Yemen 4.0%. According to the OECD/World Bank population statistics between 1990-2008 the world population growth was 27% and 1,423 million persons.

Population growth rate

Bangladesh had high rates of population growth in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then however it has seen a marked reduction in its total fertility rate. Over a period of three decades it dropped from almost 7 to 2.4 in 2005-2010.

Urban and rural

The sprawling mega-city of Dhaka has a huge population, but the majority of the people nonetheless still live in villages in rural areas.

Urban population: 27% of total population (2009 est.) Rate of urbanization: 3.5% annual rate of change (2005-2010 est.) Bangladesh is considered an urban country based on their population density (hrsa.gov)

Population Density

Based on the CIA World Fact Book 2012 figures for population (161,083,804) and land area (130,168 km2), Bangladesh has the highest population density among large countries, 1,237.51 persons per square kilometer, and 12th overall, when small countries and city-states are included.

Fertility

Total Fertility Rate (TFR):

Fertility Rate (The Demographic Health Survey)

Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and CBR (Crude Birth Rate):

Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 70.65 years (2014 est.) country comparison to the world: 150 Male: 68.48 years Female: 72.31 years

HIV/AIDS

Prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (adults, 102nd in world, 2001 est.); 0.01% (2014 est.) People living with HIV/AIDS: 12,000 (85th in world, 2007 est.) Deaths: fewer than 500 (87th in world, 2007 est.); about 700 (2014 est.).

Major infectious diseases

Degree of risk: high Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever Vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations Water contact disease: leptospirosis Animal contact disease: rabies (2005)

Ethnic groups

The vast majority (about 98.5%) of Bangladeshis are of the Bengali ethno-linguistic group. This group also spans the neighboring Indian province of West Bengal. Minority ethnic groups include Meitei, Khasi, Santhals, Chakma, Garo (tribe), Biharis, Oraons, Mundas and Rohingyas.

Biharis are Urdu-speaking, non-Bengalis who emigrated from the state of Bihar and other parts of northern India during the 1947 partition. They are concentrated in the Dhaka and Rangpur areas and number some 300,000. In the 1971 independence war many of them sided with Pakistan, as they stood to lose their positions in the upper levels of society. Hundreds of thousands went to Pakistan and those that remained were interned in refugee camps. Their population declined from about 1 million in 1971 to 600,000 in the late 1980s. Refugees International has called them a "neglected and stateless" people as they are denied citizenship by the governments of Bangladesh and Pakistan. As nearly 40 years has passed, two generations of Biharis have been born in these camps. Biharis were granted Bangladeshi citizenship and voting rights in 2008.

Bangladesh's tribal population was enumerated at 897,828 in the 1981 census. These tribes are concentrated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and around Mymensingh, Sylhet, and Rajshahi. They are of Sino-Tibetan descent and differ markedly in their social customs, religion, language and level of development. They speak Tibeto-Burman languages and most are Buddhist or Hindu. The four largest tribes are Chakmas, Marmas, Tipperas and Mros. Smaller groups include the Santals in Rajshahi and Dinajpur, and Khasis, Garos, and Khajons in Mymensingh and Sylhet regions.

There are small communities of Meitei people in the Sylhet district, which is close to the Meitei homeland across the border in Manipur, India.

There is a small population of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar near the border in the southeast. There are 28,000 living in two UN refugee camps in Cox's Bazaar as well as some 200,000 "unregistered people of concern" living outside of the camps. The refugee crisis originated in the early 1990s when the first wave numbering some 250,000 of the predominantly Muslim ethnic group fled persecution from their home in Rakhaine—Myanmar's western-most state. Bangladesh seeks to repatriate the refugees back to Myanmar.

Language

  • Official language: Bengali (also known as Bangla)
  • Other languages often considered dialects of Bengali: Chittagonian, Sylheti, Rohingya, Tangchangya, Chakma, and Rangpuri.
  • Other Indic languages: Bishnupriya Manipuri, Assamese, various Bihari languages
  • Tibeto-Burman languages: A'Tong, Chak, Koch, Garo, Megam, Meitei Manipuri, Mizo, Mru, Pangkhua, Rakhine/Marma, Kok Borok, Riang, Tippera, Usoi, various Chin languages
  • Austroasiatic languages: Khasi, Koda, Mundari, Pnar, Santali, War
  • Dravidian languages: Kurukh
  • Other languages: English (spoken and known widely in upper-class & politics), Arabic ( sometimes spoken and known by many Muslims, due to Islam being the primary religion), Hindi/Urdu (understood by some, and spoken by Biharis)'

    • Religion

    Population trends for major religious groups in Bangladesh (1951–2011)

    Genetics

    Bangladesh has the world's highest frequency of the M form of mitochondrial DNA. This genetic variant spans many continents, and is the single most common mtDNA haplogroup in Asia. In Bangladesh it represents about 83% of maternal lineages.

    Education

    Literacy

    Definition: age 15 and over can read and write Total population: 43.1% Male: 53.9% Female: 31.8% (2003 est.)

    Education expenditures

    2.7% of GDP (2005) country comparison to the world: 151

    References

    Demographics of Bangladesh Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA