I was going through an interesting news item about Italy the other day. In Italy more people are dying and lesser babies are born. It is the same in many countries of Europe.
China which adopted a policy of one-child family had to abandon it and opt for two-children families so that they can earn demographic dividends. In our country we have a large population and we are busy bringing down the population growth without thinking for a while that lower birth rate could also be a problem. Many developed countries are worried about their lower birth rates and they fear that if drastic measures are not taken to increase population growth rates they may face serious consequences. Developed countries like the US, Japan, China, Korea have already become countries with aging population where members of younger generations are far too few compared to aging members of the society. As a result, they have to rely on less developed countries with high population for supply of necessary man power to keep their economies going.
Mohammad Sohel Hara
Bonosree, Dhaka
sohelhara@hotmail.com