Bangladesh’s total population increased from 14.4 crore in 2011 to 16.51 crore in 2022. The country recorded an average annual population growth rate of 1.22 per cent, down from the average annual population growth rate of 1.37 per cent recorded in 2011.
The preliminary results of Bangladesh’s census released on Wednesday, show that efforts to correct the male-tilted gender ratio have yielded results.
The results show that women outnumber men in Bangladesh’s total population for the first time in the country’s history. The preliminary result of the sixth population census recorded 8.33 crore women against 8.17 crore men. Transgender and queer people were recorded as hijras and they numbered 12,629.
With this, Bangladesh joins Sri Lanka to become the second country in SouthAsia where women outnumber men.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) that carried out the Population and Housing Census 2022, the total population of the country increased from 14.4 crore in 2011 to 16.51 crore in 2022. Bangladesh recorded an average annual population growth rate of 1.22 per cent, down from the average annual population growth rate of 1.37 per cent recorded in 2011.
The population of Hindus, Christians and Buddhists in the country shows a falling trend. The percentage of Hindus declined from 8.54 per cent in 2011 to 7.95 per cent in 2022. The percentage of Buddhists in the total population fell from 0.62 per cent in 2011 to 0.61 per cent of the total in 2022. Likewise, the Christian population too fell from 0.31 per cent to 0.30 per cent of the total population over the decade. On the other hand, the population of Muslims increased from 90.39 per cent in 2011 to 91.4 per cent in the latest survey.
There has been no explanation for the declining population of the minority groups from the Bureau of Statistics so far.
In percentage terms, literacy in Bangladesh showed a sharp rise during the 10 years between 2011 and 2022. Literacy that stood at 51.77 per cent in 2011 has risen by 22.89 per cent over the decade and stands at 74.66 per cent in 2022.
Close to 56 per cent of the Bangladeshis use mobile phones in 2022 while 30.68 per cent of the population is using the internet.
The region showing the highest population growth rate in the Dhaka division where 4.4 crore of the country’s citizens live – a population growth rate of 1.94 per cent per year.
