The national composition of the state, which is one of the ten largest in the world in terms of population size and density, but occupies a small territory, is diverse. What is interesting: despite the fact that the majority of the republic’s inhabitants are indigenous, the state as a whole is represented by many small tribal peoples and is of interest by the ratio of the occupied territory to the density and number of inhabitants of Bangladesh. Population density, population, territorial area - these and other indicators affecting the demographic situation are considered in this material and analyzed taking into account the situation of other countries.
Briefly about Bangladesh
The Republic of Bangladesh is a unitary state: all parts of the country are on an equal footing and do not have special status or rights. A small state is surrounded by India, with the exception of the 271 km stretch of border with Myanmar and the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
Today, Bangladesh is an agro-industrial country with a developing economy, has a significant ethnocultural education, but remains one of the poorest countries in Asia. Periodically, the population suffers from serious natural disasters and social problems: floods that destroy agricultural land, prolonged droughts or terrorist attacks.
The rich culture of the state of Bangladesh is distinguished. The density of the population, by the way, in this case is one of the forming factors in matters of cultural heritage, religion and the peculiar traditions of the region. Such a nation, different in ethnic composition and religious affiliation, which is forced to live in a small territory, surprisingly merges into a unique whole.
Bangladesh Territory
The territory of the state is almost 150 thousand square kilometers. An insignificant share is occupied by the water surface - only 6.4 km 2 in international borders. On the territory of Bangladesh, it occupies 92nd place in the world and 27th in Asia. Compared with the cities of the Russian Federation: the territory of the state corresponds to the area of such cities as Belgorod, Tver or Murmansk, and is half the size of Togliatti or Penza.
At the same time, the population does not allow residents of the Republic of Bangladesh to feel completely free. The population density of Russian cities, commensurate in area, is 20, 76 and even 230 times less, respectively. Of course, this is not at all surprising, because the Asian state is the seventh most populous per square kilometer in the world.
The number of inhabitants of the republic
According to the state census, the population of Bangladesh in 2010 was a little over 140 million. According to estimates, as of 2016, the indicator increased by 30 million inhabitants. The data are proportional to the natural annual population growth, but slightly exceed the demographic forecast.
Bangladesh's population is amazing. The republic is not comparable in size to the Russian Federation, but in terms of the number of inhabitants it exceeds Russia by 25 million people. Thus, both in Bangladesh and in Russia, 2% of the world's population live.
Distribution of population by regions
Bangladesh is a unitary state (all regions are in equal position with respect to each other and the capital and do not have any exclusive rights) and is divided into eight administrative areas - divisions. Each region is named for the largest city in its composition.
Regions, in turn, are divided into counties, subcircles, and police departments. Further, the division depends on the size of the settlement: in large cities, several sections are subordinate to the police department, each of which consists of quarters, in small settlements - several communes.
Most of the population of Bangladesh is employed in agriculture (63%). Therefore, the residents who live in large cities (administrative centers of regions and suburbs), a minority - only 27% of the total number of citizens. At the same time, 7% of the population is concentrated in the capital. In Russia, the ratio of capital residents to the total number of citizens is not much higher: 8.4%, but residents of large cities more than 40%.
A comparison of Russia and Bangladesh by population density in the capitals provides the following data: almost 5 thousand people per 1 km 2 in Moscow, against a little more than 23 thousand inhabitants in Dhaka. The difference is almost five times not so great as the general indicator for countries, because the total population density in Russia is 134 times less than the corresponding size of the Asian state.
Demographic changes
The population dynamics of Bangladesh has a positive trend. The number of inhabitants is steadily increasing, which is typical for most developing countries. So, even at the beginning of the 20th century, almost 30 million citizens lived in the republic, by the beginning of World War II, the population exceeded 40 million, and in 1960, 50 million inhabitants were recorded by official census.
Since the Cold War, there has been a sharp increase in population: over the past forty years of the twentieth century, the population has increased slightly more than twice. At the same time, according to the natural population growth, the republic is on the 73rd place in the general list.
Average population density in Bangladesh
Bangladesh's population density for 2016 is 1,165 people per square kilometer. The indicator is calculated as follows: the total population is divided into the territory of the state. As already mentioned, the republic ranks seventh in the world in terms of population density. Ahead of Bangladesh Maldives, Malta, Bahrain, Vatican, Singapore and Monaco
For some reason, it is precisely the questions about the population density of Bangladesh (in comparison with other countries) that are often found in school textbooks on the geography of Russian eighth graders:
- “Where is the highest population density: in the UK, China, Bangladesh?” The answer can be found by looking at the directories. So, the population density of Great Britain is only 380 people per square kilometer, and of China - 143. Answer: Bangladesh.
- “Compare Russia and Bangladesh by population density.” You can answer this way: “The population density of Russia is very low and amounts to about 8 people / km 2 . The population density of Bangladesh is one of the highest in the world - 1145 people / km 2 , that is, 143 times more. The low population density of the Russian Federation is explained by the vast uninhabited territories, the high rate in Bangladesh (population density) is characteristic of most developing countries. ”
Key statistics
Other indicators in the field of demography are the distribution of the population by age, gender, literacy rate, birth rate and mortality, as well as socially significant values: pension and demographic burden, replacement rate, life expectancy.
Today, the majority of the population (61%) are people of working age, the ratio of men to women is approximately 1: 1 (50.6% and 49.4%, respectively). The average life expectancy of both sexes is 69 years, which is only 2 years less than the global average.
The birth rate in Bangladesh exceeds mortality, the natural population growth is positive and amounts to 16 ‰ (or + 1.6%). Despite social, economic and food problems, demographic security (security of the population size and composition from external and internal threats) in Bangladesh remains at a sufficient level.
Social burden on society
Bangladesh is experiencing a rather significant social burden on society: each employed person must ensure the production of one and a half times more goods and services than is required for himself. The child load ratio, i.e. the ratio of the population below working age to adult citizens, is 56%. The coefficient of the pension burden (the ratio of residents of retirement age to the working population) corresponds to most developing countries and is at the level of 7.6%.
National composition and languages
The population density in Bangladesh per 1 km2 is quite high (1,145 people), which contributes to the mixing and close interaction of cultures, religions and ethno-cultural entities. The vast majority are Bengalis (98%), the remaining percentage of the population are from North India.
Almost all residents of the country are fluent in Bengali, which is the official language. Natives of the Indian state of Bihar use the Urdu language in everyday life. Part of the population (especially young people and senior citizens) is fluent in English.
The group of small nationalities living in Bangladesh includes 13 major tribes and several other tribal peoples. They are classified by language:
- Indo-European language family: it includes the Bengalis and Biharians, who constitute the majority in the national composition of Bangladesh.
- Sino-Tibetan language family: the nationalities of the Tibetan-Burmese language family are widely represented (tribes of the Garo, Marma, Burmese, Miso, Chakma and others). In total, they make up almost a million inhabitants of Bangladesh, to which 300 thousand refugees from neighboring Myanmar (Burmese) are added.
- Austro-Asian language family: the language groups of munda (Santala, Munda, ho) and Khashi are distinguished. Tribes live in small groups in western Bangladesh.
- Dravidian language family: the northeastern group of the language family is represented by only one nationality - oraons or kurukh (self-name). According to cultural and domestic features, kurukh are close to the peoples of the mund.
Thus, the ethnocultural diversity of the republic is significant. At the same time, Bangladeshi society has not lost its collective character.
Religiosity of the population of the republic
The diversity of nationalities is the basis for differences in the religious affiliation of the inhabitants. The republic is developing along the path of a secular state (at least the government is making every effort to do this), but Bangladesh remains a de facto religious country. In 1972, the process of forming a religious state was stopped by the Supreme Court, which returned the development of the republic to the mainstream of the Constitution.
The state religion - Islam - is professed by almost ninety percent of the population. The Islamic community of Bangladesh has about 130 million people, making it the fourth largest in the world after Indonesia, India and Pakistan.
Adherents of Hinduism are 9.2% of the population, Buddhism - 0.7%, Christianity - 0.3%. Other religions and tribal cults make up only 0.1%, but can boast of unprecedented heterogeneity due to the large number of divided tribes.
Republic problems
Bangladesh is suffering from natural disasters and terrorism. In 2005-2013, terrorist acts claimed the lives of 418 residents of the republic, terrorists and special services. But the situation with poverty, hunger, droughts, floods and other natural disasters is much sadder. So, a cyclone in 1970 caused the death of half a million people, the famine of 1974-1975 and the catastrophic flood of 1974 claimed the lives of two thousand people, left millions of people homeless and destroyed 80% of the annual crop.
Comparison of Bangladesh with developed countries
Bangladesh is a typical developing country. This fact confirms not only the historical past, but also the present socio-demographic and economic status of the republic.
Signs of a developing state | Bangladesh |
Colonial past | Independence from Pakistan was proclaimed in 1971, until 1947 Bangladesh was a colony of Great Britain |
High social stress | Stress is confirmed by a high level of social and child stress, social problems |
The heterogeneity of the structure of society | The population of Bangladesh is represented by many nationalities that have differences in cultural and domestic characteristics. |
High population growth | Developing countries are characterized by average natural growth rates of 2% per year, in Bangladesh the figure is 1.6% |
The predominance of the agricultural sector over the industrial | Bangladesh is an agrarian state, 63% of the population are engaged in agriculture |
Low per capita income | In Bangladesh, the figure is $ 1,058 (2013), while global per capita national income is $ 10,553; in Russia, $ 14,680 |
The prevalence of the percentage of the working age population over retirees | Bangladesh is not characterized by an aging nation: people of retirement age are only 4% of the total population, while in developed countries the figure is 20-30% |
High population density | The republic ranks seventh in the world in terms of population density, the population density of Russia and Bangladesh varies by 143 times |
Thus, Bangladesh is a typical developing country. Moreover, it is the poorest state among the overpopulated. The population density of Bangladesh is one of the highest in the world, and the number is higher than in Russia. The territory of the states does not go into any comparison.