Population growth rate

Bangladesh had high rates of population growth in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then however it has seen a marked reduction in its total fertility rate. Over a period of three decades it dropped from almost 7 to 2.4 in 2005-2010.<[/fusion_text]

UN estimates

Total population Population aged 0–14 (%) Population aged 15–64 (%) Population aged 65+ (%)
1950 37 895 41.2 54.8 3.9
1955 43 444 42.4 54.1 3.5
1960 50 102 43.6 53.1 3.3
1965 57 792 44.7 52.0 3.3
1970 66 881 44.7 51.8 3.4
1975 70 582 45.8 50.7 3.5
1980 80 624 45.0 51.4 3.6
1985 92 284 43.9 52.5 3.6
1990 105 256 42.5 53.8 3.7
1995 117 487 40.3 55.9 3.8
2000 129 592 37.3 58.7 4.0
2005 140 588 34.3 61.4 4.3
2010 148 692 31.3 64.1 4.6

Other sources

The following table lists various recent estimates of the population.

Source Year Population (millions)
US State Dep 2005 144
Population Reference Bureau 2005 144
World Bank 2008 160
CIA World FactBook 2010 156
World Population Reference 2010 164

Gender ratio

  • At birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
  • Under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
  • 15–64 years: 0.9 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.94 male(s)/female
  • Total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Urban and rural

The sprawling mega-city of Dhaka has a huge population, but the majority of the people nonetheless still live in villages in rural areas.

  • Urban population: 27% of total population (2009 est.)
  • Rate of urbanization: 3.5% annual rate of change (2005-2010 est.)

Population Density

Based on the CIA World Fact Book 2012 figures for population (161,083,804) and land area (130,168 km2), Bangladesh has the highest population density among large countries, 1,237.51 persons per square kilometer, and 12th overall, when small countries and city-states are included.