It barely needs research to prove that Bangladesh, among the three most populous nations in the subcontinent – Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, has shown consistent success in population control. When Bangladesh gained independence in 1971, its population was 7.5 crore. Pakistan’s population, on the other hand, was 6.5 crore. After half a century, when the population of Bangladesh is about 17 crore, Pakistan’s population is 20.70 crore. India’s population growth rate too is higher than that of Bangladesh. During independence, women in the age group of 15-49 years used to give birth to more than 6 children on an average. Currently, this rate is 2.1, according to data. At the time of independence, eight per cent of couples adopted the modern birth control system, but now the rate has reached 64 per cent. This achievement of Bangladesh has garnered wide acclaim in the international arena.
But in the last few years, the policymakers of the government have developed a misconception that the country will benefit from demographic dividend if population increases. Hence, they seem to have slowed down in observing the population control programme. How much wrong the conception is is proved by an increasing pressure on land, food, education and health. About 22 lakh young people are entering the labour market every year, even a third of them are not given proper jobs. As a result, the idea of reaping benefits from demographic dividends is nothing but a daydream.
For these reasons, the slogan ‘Not more than two children, one better’ was chosen in 2004 as part of the population control programme during the BNP government. After assuming power in 2012, the Awami League government also took steps to strengthen the slogan. But, the Department of Family Planning dropped the slogan and restored the slogan of the 1980s: ‘Boy or girl, two children are enough’. It has also had an impact on the government’s population policy too. In Bangladesh, the maternal mortality rate remains stagnant. This is because the number of teenage mothers in the age group of 15-19 years is relatively high.
In Bangladesh, 1,265 people live in one square kilometer which is 450 in India and 150 in China. About 32 lakh people are also adding to the population every year. No country, other than a city state, has so many people in a square kilometer area. The argument that policymakers make that China and Japan have withdrawn from a one-child policy does not apply to an overpopulated Bangladesh. Both the policies and slogans of the government regarding population control seem to be wrong. In the country, which is aspiring for a middle income status, about four crore people still live below the poverty line. The number of the extreme poor is also close to two crore, who are deprived of the minimum living privileges. In this situation, the government should take real actions rather than catching wrong policies and slogans.
