World Population Day 2015: The progress of Bangladesh

World Population Day is an annual event of the United Nations (UN), observed globally every year on July 11 - to raise awareness about global population issues. The day seeks attention of the governments, policymakers, academics, experts, NGOs and the ordinary citizens. The world population has crossed 7 billion in 2014 and it is expected that the figure will increase up to 8 billion by 2030. Annually, Bangladesh observes the day in a befitting manner.
Bangladesh, with a surface area of 147,570 sqkm, is the eighth most populous country in the world. In terms of density, Bangladesh is in the ninth position with an average of 964 people for every sqkm of land. It is estimated that the population will reach 200 million by 2020 with 40 per cent under the age of 15 years of age. The figure is likely to be 220 million by 2050.
UN data has revealed that 16 million girls, under the age of 18, give birth each year. Another 3.2 million undergo unsafe abortions. 90 per cent of the pregnant adolescents in the developing world are married. Nevertheless, most of these girls have little to do with informed choice as they face discrimination and violations of human rights like child-marriage, inadequate education, or sexual coercion. The report further reveals that almost 800 women die everyday due to pregnancy or childbirth. The loss of a mother shatters a family and threatens the welfare of surviving children. In 2008, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) established the Maternal Health Thematic Fund to increase the capacity of national health systems to provide a broad range of maternal health services for reducing health inequalities and ensuring women's right to maternal health.
Since education is the backbone of a nation, the government has recently prioritised this sector for the improvement of human life index of Bangladesh. According to the literacy survey report of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), literacy rate of the population, aged above 15, reached 59.82 per cent while the illiteracy rate is 40.18 per cent, and women's literacy rate is 55.71 per cent. Nationwide, the government has launched the Fundamental Literacy Project to offer primary education to 4.5 million illiterate people of ages between 15 and 45. This will radically contribute to the enhancement of literacy rate in Bangladesh. In addition, Bangladesh has made commendable progress in terms of increasing equitable access to education - with net enrolment rate of 98.7 per cent; 99.4 per cent for girls and 97.2 per cent for boys. Evidently, Bangladesh has already achieved gender parity in the enrolment to primary and secondary education.  
Regardless of various obstacles, Bangladesh has advanced in terms of various economic indicators as the Gross National Income (GNI) is speedily increasing, with an annual GNI per capita of $1,314 - making it eligible of becoming a lower-middle income country by 2016. Last month, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) declared that the country rating for Bangladesh reached to 5 from 6. In spite of the political instability and worldwide recession during the last few years, Bangladesh has achieved a stable economic growth. However, tremendous work should be done to remove the inequalities and uphold human values before we get the true benefits of economic growth.
Moreover, a new record of inward remittance was created in the last fiscal year as the amount of $15.3 billion was received as inward remittance, with an increase of 7.6 per cent from FY 2014 when $14.23 billion was received. Experts opine that the enhancement of inward remittance is absolutely a positive side because the amount will be spent in consumption and investment - thus contributing to the growth of national economy. If proper training is given to the expatriate workforce, they will turn into skilled labourers. This will simultaneously increase their income and the inward remittance.
Although the government of Bangladesh is positive in addressing the issue of climate change, it has to incur the cost of massive industrialisation in the developed countries. Global warming will be a catastrophe for Bangladesh as it increases the concentrations of "greenhouse gas" in the earth's atmosphere and raise the sea-level. All the aspects of socio-economic life in Bangladesh are likely to be affected by climate change. The rise of sea-level will possibly displace a lot of people living in the coastal areas. These people will take refuge in the elevated lands - increasing the already-high population density. In spite of being situated in the world's largest delta region, Bangladesh depends mostly on groundwater for drinking and irrigation during dry seasons - due to the lack of a sustainable water usage plan. The excessive extraction of groundwater creates increased salinity in coastal areas as it lowers the groundwater level. When the groundwater level goes below the sea level, saline water flows inwards during tidal surge in the rivers. The country annually experiences disasters like tropical cyclones, storm surges, coastal erosion, floods, and droughts. This causes a heavy loss of life and prosperity. Bangladesh is already beset with artificial crises like traffic-jams, lack of basic sanitation and environmental pollutions.
Bangladesh is thriving to achieve an assortment of socio-economic targets for our collective prosperity. A prosperous state cannot be expected without the full contribution of its citizens. Therefore, the government has prioritised the socio-economic development of the population. The government should create an atmosphere to generate positive outcomes. We must ensure that gender equality is established and potentials of youngsters are fully utilised. Stakeholders in the society should make robust efforts to deal with any problem. Let the World Population Day create an opportunity for a happy and prosperous life.
The writer is the executive secretary of ADHUNIK, national anti-tobacco organisation of Bangladesh.