The population size of Bangladesh might be above 169.8 million as per the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) latest review.
It was revealed at the Post Enumeration Check (PEC) of the Population and Housing Census (PHC) 2022 dissemination event.
The Ministry of Planning organised the event at the National Economic Council Conference Room in the capital on Monday.
Earlier, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) primary findings of the PHC 2022, published in July 2022, found the population above 165.1 million (165,158,616).
The BBS is the state-run authority for conducting and publishing such census and surveys. The BIDS was assigned for post enumeration review of the census.
BIDS Senior Research Fellow Dr Mohammad Yunus delivered key findings of the PEC.
The PEC found 2.75 per cent error rate in the PHC 2022 national coverage. The error was found more among the population aged four or below and seventy five plus years.
"Considering the 2.75 per cent of undercount as per the BIDS findings, the population might be above 169.8 million," said State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam while addressing the event.
The latest population review would not create any impact on the country's middle-income status, as average per capita income would still remain above US$2,700, he added.
BIDS Director General Dr Binayak Sen said national coverage error rate of the census has been declining gradually due to further capacity development of the BBS.
The error rate was 4.98 per cent in 2001 census, which reduced to 3.97 per cent in 2011 and to 2.75 per cent in 2022.
The BIDS team conducted the PEC and delivered its outcome to the BBS, which, after calculating all factors, would make public the final report as per the existing law, he added.
Statistics and Information Division Secretary Dr Shahnaj Arefin said it would take a week to deliver a comprehensive report, including information like proportion of male, female and other gender, growth rate, working population, literacy rate, and other relevant issues.
BBS Director General Md Matiur Rahman said a total of 133 different studies related to the census would be published within the census project deadline of 2024. Only two of these have been published so far.
Planning Secretary Dr Satyajit Karmaker also spoke on the occasion, among others.
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