The rising burden of overpopulation
Friday, 22 October 2010
THERE is no parallel of a small country of about 55,000 square miles only crammed already with a population of 164.4 million which is the size of the Bangladesh population today according to the latest report of the UNFPA that was released at a function at a city hotel last Wednesday. The occasion was aimed to alert policy-makers in this country to the runway population growth which has already suffered the burden of overpopulation for a long time. The UNFPA assessment also showed up the lack of credibility of erstwhile available official figure of the current population size of the country at 140 million. Thus, there are more than 24 million more people whom the earlier official headcount bypassed and who remain outside planned activities on its part. This is a glaring omission in the sphere of population control activities among other vital indicators of slipping performance in what should be a centre point of concern for Bangladesh.
The UNFPA report underlined how important it is for Bangladesh to defuse the population bomb. It highlighted that some 55.8 per cent of all fertile couples remain outside any form of family planning initiatives and are breeding recklessly. This itself is proof of the current gross underperformance of official population control programmes. The population of the country is likely to soar to 170.2 million by 2020 under these conditions.
Already, the stresses of a huge population are evident everywhere. Per capita income cannot rise because the pie of the national income has to be divided among too many recipients including the fast rising number of the additional ones. The ever growing unemployment woes are getting worse and worse as jobs are found to be scarce compared to the needs of the fast rising population. Similar stresses are noted everywhere in health, housing, nutrition, transportation, education and in the vital field of the environment. With a stabilizing population growth rate or a smaller population, the needs in each of the sectors could be progressively met better and become manageable
While taming of population growth has been signaling as a grim national priority, the policy-makers and the ones in the government of this country have otherwise been found napping in relation to it. This is most unfortunate and such a mentality ought to be shaken up by the statistics mentioned above which ought to awaken the government from its slumber. Privately-led activities are there in population control. But the supreme responsibility for spending public funds efficiently to that end should be among the most pressing priorities of the government of this very overpopulated country.
There is no time to lose in reducing the population growth rate. It must be immediately recognized as one of the very major national problems. The identification should be followed up urgently by completely revamping the government-run various population control activities which seem to be poorly run at the moment. Apart from the restructuring and making much more effective the official population control activities, a decisive battle should be started to change people's psychologies and attitudes. The scourge of early marriage must be changed by improving social awareness of it. Sixty per cent of the females in the country become mothers by the age of 19 and this alone should explain why it is proving so difficult to control the population boom. The situation in this regard calls for regular mass campaigns to motivate people away from early marriages.
The UNFPA report underlined how important it is for Bangladesh to defuse the population bomb. It highlighted that some 55.8 per cent of all fertile couples remain outside any form of family planning initiatives and are breeding recklessly. This itself is proof of the current gross underperformance of official population control programmes. The population of the country is likely to soar to 170.2 million by 2020 under these conditions.
Already, the stresses of a huge population are evident everywhere. Per capita income cannot rise because the pie of the national income has to be divided among too many recipients including the fast rising number of the additional ones. The ever growing unemployment woes are getting worse and worse as jobs are found to be scarce compared to the needs of the fast rising population. Similar stresses are noted everywhere in health, housing, nutrition, transportation, education and in the vital field of the environment. With a stabilizing population growth rate or a smaller population, the needs in each of the sectors could be progressively met better and become manageable
While taming of population growth has been signaling as a grim national priority, the policy-makers and the ones in the government of this country have otherwise been found napping in relation to it. This is most unfortunate and such a mentality ought to be shaken up by the statistics mentioned above which ought to awaken the government from its slumber. Privately-led activities are there in population control. But the supreme responsibility for spending public funds efficiently to that end should be among the most pressing priorities of the government of this very overpopulated country.
There is no time to lose in reducing the population growth rate. It must be immediately recognized as one of the very major national problems. The identification should be followed up urgently by completely revamping the government-run various population control activities which seem to be poorly run at the moment. Apart from the restructuring and making much more effective the official population control activities, a decisive battle should be started to change people's psychologies and attitudes. The scourge of early marriage must be changed by improving social awareness of it. Sixty per cent of the females in the country become mothers by the age of 19 and this alone should explain why it is proving so difficult to control the population boom. The situation in this regard calls for regular mass campaigns to motivate people away from early marriages.