The preliminary results of the fifth census unveiled yesterday became questionable as it contradicts with the numbers projected by different United Nations (UN) bodies and government high-ups last year.
As per the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics’ (BBS) latest census, the country’s population stands at 14.23 crore.
The debate over the population surfaced last year when the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in its 2010 world population report, said the country’s population of that year was around 16.44 crore and the government criticised the report for being inaccurate.
In last October, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said quoting government statistics that the country’s population was 14.60 crore.
Following the minister’s remark, population experts and researchers assumed that the fifth census results would show the population to be lower than 16 crore.
This March the UNFPA revised its projection of Bangladesh’s population to 14.80 crore.
UNFPA officials said the economic and social affairs department of UN collects data on various indicators such as growth rate, birth rate and death rate of a country to project its population.
A census is more accurate than all forms of projection. Therefore, the UNFPA has revised its report with more accurate projections, they said.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh government in 2010 imported various crops and food items to meet the demands of a supposed 15 crore population in the country.
A top official of the Directorate of Food said the government import and stock food on the basis of the population.
After the revelation of the preliminary census results, population experts said the results are incorrect.
“But, we should remember this is not the final result,” said Prof Nurunnobi, a leading population researcher in the country.
“The [latest] census lacked proper promotional activities and people were not much enthusiastic about getting listed.” Besides, the fact is enumerators did not visit all houses.
Many things like policy-making and development activities involve population count, say experts. Therefore, confusion on the national population would mean inefficient policy making and national developments.
The national population is also closely related to food production, imports of various goods and various economic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and per capita income.
BBS officials have admitted that the preliminary census results are not entirely accurate. They said some data might have been lost during the counting process.
“This is why there is a post-enumeration check [PEC] to verify the preliminary results,” said Ashim Kumar Dey, census director of BBS.
“If there are any errors in the [preliminary] results, they would be uncovered in the PEC.”
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) would conduct the PEC and help BBS produce the final population count, which is expected to be revealed in this September.
-With The Daily Star input
