Population now at 165.16m

The total population in Bangladesh now stands at 165.16 million with a declining trend of the number of males compared to their female counterparts.
The provisional data of the latest census, done by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), revealed the figures at a function in Dhaka city on Wednesday.
The population has increased by 15.38 million from 149.77 million 11 years ago in 2011, according to the preliminary findings of the Population and Housing Census-2022.
Dhaka's population has increased by 3.31 million to 10.28 million in 2022 from 6.97 million in 2011.
In the latest census, it was recorded that the population has grown at 1.22-per cent rate per annum from 1.37 per cent of the last census data in 2011.
The male population has declined significantly as the male-female ratio has stood at 98:100.3, according to the BBS data.
The total number of females is 83.35 million, which is 50.50 per cent of the total population while the male is 81.71 million or 49.50 per cent.
Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury attended the function as the chief guest with planning minister MA Mannan in the chair.
State minister for public administration Farhad Hossain, state minister for planning Dr Shamsul Alam and PM's principal secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus were special guests there.
Statistics and Informatics Division secretary Dr Shahnaz Arefin delivered an address of welcome while Population and Housing Census project director Md Dilder Hossain presented the preliminary findings.
Dr Shirin says all assumptions and misunderstanding regarding the country's total population will be over from now on.
As females are higher than males, it is essential to ensure the participation of women in mainstream development.
MA Mannan says the census will help us prepare the roadmap of next development and prospective plans.
The BBS collected the countrywide population and household data from June 15-21.
The population density has increased to 1,119 per square kilometre in 2022 from that of 976 in 2011.
Dhaka South City Corporation is the densest area where 39,353 persons live per sq km followed by 30,474 persons per sq km in Dhaka North City Corporation.
In terms of religious factors, Muslim population has increased to 91.04 per cent in 2022 from 90.39 per cent in 2011.
The Hindus have declined to 7.95 per cent in 2022 from 8.54 per cent in 2011.
Buddhists and Christians have also dropped to 0.61 per cent and 0.30 per cent respectively in 2022 from 0.62 per cent and 0.31 per cent in 2011.
However, the impressive part of the census is the fall in the dependency rate.
In 2022, dependency rate among the population has declined to 52.64 per cent from 73 per cent 11 years back in 2011, the BBS census shows.
The rate in rural areas is the highest 56.09 per cent while it is 45.63 per cent in towns.
The census shows the youth (15-24 years) have increased to 19.11 per cent of the total population from 18.16 per cent in 2011.
The literacy rate has also increased significantly to 74.66 per cent in 2022 from 51.77 per cent in 2011.
The BBS discloses that 55.89 per cent of the total population (above five years) use mobile phone. Among them, 66.53-per cent are male and 45.53-per cent female.
Some 30.68 per cent of the population utilise internet where male participation is 38.02 per cent and female 23.52 per cent.
Meanwhile, 1.43 per cent of the total population are disabled in 2022 against 1.41 per cent in 2011.
The transgendered population in Bangladesh has been recorded at 12,629.
The number of households has also increased to 41.01 million in 2022 from 32.17 million in 2011.
But the household size has declined to 4.0 from that of 4.5 in 2011. The size is bigger in rural areas at 4.1 against 3.9 in urban areas.
According to the BBS, 1.80 million live in slums. The total slum households in the country are 0.05 million.
The country has 22,185 floating people.
Some 97.61 per cent of the total population have come under the electricity coverage in 2022.

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