Life expectancy rises to 72 years in Bangladesh

Average life expectancy increased to 72 years in Bangladesh in 2017, up by six months from the previous year, according to the latest vital statistics survey.
In 2016, the average human lifespan was 71.6 years in the country.
Although crude death rate (CDR) has remained unchanged at 5.1 per thousand population since 2015, the CDR is higher in the rural areas (5.7) than in the urban areas (4.2).
Life expectancy has increased on an average by 0.32 years each year over the past five years which is 1.6 years' increase in overall life expectancy.
For females, life expectancy increased to 73.5 years in 2017 from 72.9 years in the previous year.
For males, life expectancy increased to 70.6 years from 70.3 years during the period.
The results of the survey titled 'Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2017' conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) were revealed at BBS auditorium in the city on Wednesday.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal inaugurated the publication of the report.
If the country continues to make progress at the current pace, it will emerge as a developed country in 2041, he said.
BBS collected samples from 295,175 households in 2012 areas in the 2017 survey.
Project director Ashraful Islam said reduction in mortality rate at various stages has contributed to the rise in the average life expectancy.
Besides, literacy at both adult and children levels has increased.
Adult literacy rate for the population aged 15+ increased to 72.9 per cent in 2017 from 72.3 per cent in 2016.
The literacy rate for the population aged seven years and above increased to 72.3 per cent in 2017 from 71 per cent in 2016.
Males dominate the literacy rate.
The adult literacy rate in the urban areas is 24 per cent higher than that in the rural areas.
Crude birth rate was estimated at 18.5 per thousand population in 2017, which was 18.7 in 2016 and 19 in 2013.
The statistics shows that 29.3 per cent of the total population is under 15 years of age, which is one of the major reasons of high fertility rate.
The overall contraceptive prevalence rate was 62.5 per cent in 2017, a moderate rise by 0.2 per cent over the rate in 2016.
Urban women use more contraceptives (66.3 per cent) than their rural counterparts (59.4 per cent).
Mean age at first marriage for males decreased to 25.1 in 2017 from 25.2 in 2016.
The age at marriage has not changed for females over past the five years. The mean age for marriage for females has remained static at 18.4 years.
The overall disability rate is 8.4 per thousand population, but the risk is higher among males (9.8) than the females with a risk of 8.0.

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