What Is Population Earth Population And Problems

Population problems:

Bangladesh has a large population with the highest density in the third word as well as high growth rate.

The population size was estimated at 123.80 million in January 1997,the natural growth rate being 1.755 per annum. In the census of 2001, the number of population was increased to about 130 million, with a net increase of 6 million; where in the long run , say by the year 2010, there will be a net increase of 42.74 million people. Such an increase of population will have several adverse implications for our socioeconomic development.

1. The most serious implication of population growth will be observed in the social sector. For instance, the number of enrolled students in primary education was 17.3 million in 1995 giving 92% net enrollment rate while the teacher-student ratio was 1.90. The government is committed to ensuring universal primary education and improve teacher-students ratio to 1:50,it will require almost  double the present level of resource to provide more teachers, classroom facilities, equipment’s and institutions.

2. A dismal scenario can be observed in the health sector where both primary and specialized health care services are still inadequate. Here, a serious demand for services exists for doctors, nurses, medicine, hospital care and so on. At present, the doctor-population ratio is 1:5606, hospital bed-population ratio is 1:3231 and per capita health expenditure is Tk. 135 per annum. If the existing facilities are to be improved at a satisfactory level, then per capita health expenditure to cover the entire population will have to be doubled.

3. There will be immediate on land. At present, population density is 850 persons per sq.km. which will further increase to 913 persons in 2002 and 1,130 persons in 2020 per SQ. km. This is adversely affecting existing man-land ratio of 1: 18 decimal. Due to population increase, this will further deteriorate which means that the number of landless people will increase tremendously further aggravating the poverty situation.

4. The total land space of which only two-thirds is presently arable will be attenuated further. This will have an obvious adverse impact on per capita food production and food availability for the growing population.

5.  Due to population growth momentum, a number of working age population (15-59 years) is projected to increase 66.6 million in 1997 to 80.2 million in 2002; 98.0 million in 2010 ; and 109.1 million in 2020 . Hence, the economy will have to create more job opportunities to employ its working age population to generate income and thereby, alleviate poverty.

6. The increase in population will adversely affect both GDP and GNP growth per capita.