over population in bangladesh

Overpopulation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is considered as one of the fastest developing countries. It is considered to have a great future but the biggest threat that it face’s is over population. By definition, overpopulation is the condition where the number of organisms exceeds the carrying capacity of their habitat. It is the greatest problem in Bangladesh. The land area of Bangladesh is less than her vast population. For this reason, Bangladesh in considered as over populated country. It is a great obstacle to the development of our country. Though population is an asset of a country, it has now become a burden for our country. There is no single cause of over population, but researchers have uncovered several causes, some of which has great effects.

Illiteracy is one of the important factors that contribute to overpopulation. Actually, illiteracy is caused by overpopulation, too. So, both of them is connected .Recent studies show that there is an increasing rate of illiteracy all over the world. A study conducted by WSI (World Statistics Institute) shows that over 27% of people are illiterate globally. Another study by the same institute shows that the speed at which illiteracy rate ascends is 32%. These rates are quite important, as illiteracy has terrible effects on society. According to Wikipedia (2011), the overall illiteracy rate for Bangladesh is 44.5%. Those lacking education fail to understand the need to curb population growth. Modern methods of birth control and family planning don't reach the illiterate sections of society. The concept of birth control is not widely accepted. Adopting birth control measures is considered taboo. Furthermore, due to lack of awareness there is resistance in adopting such methods .for lack of education people beliefs marrying at a certain age or having a certain number of children is considered to be ideal and male children are preferred. This indirectly forces couples to produce children till a child of the preferred gender is conceived.in Bangladesh woman's role is considered to be that of a child-bearer .A 2008 UNICEF estimate of gender disparity indicates that the illiteracy rate for men is 38% and 49% for women (Wikipedia, 2011). Since women and girls face disadvantages in pursuing an education, they don’t know about their rights, family planning etc. illiterate people don’t get proper sex education .they feel shy to talk about family planning and birth control .The illiterate are unable to understand what impact overpopulation can have. The educated class can make more responsible decisions about marriage and childbirth. Thus education is an effective tool to curb overpopulation. Moreover due to over population many children’s don’t get the privilege to get a proper education. The number of children is greater than the number of schools available. The second problem that contributes to over population is polygamy Sometimes a man takes two, three, or even more wives at the same time, especially in rural areas. As a result, population increases and it creates serious consequences on the economy of our country. Besides that, the custom of early marriage is still prevalent in the rural areas of Bangladesh. In early age’s married people were unable to realize the value of birth controlling. In their long term married life they preferred more children than a usual married couple. Because of poverty, they used to think, more children will be able to cure their poverty. This custom has also other serious consequences and thus the population is increasing at an alarming rate. This cause of overpopulation has some negative effects. One of them is accommodation problem. Bangladesh is a very small land, having approximately total area of 57,000 square miles. Recently she has more than sixteen corers of population .Bangladesh has more population than that she can give accommodation. Day by day, the number of people increasing, but the land is not increasing. We have to give place to this huge population in this limited resource. Therefore, accommodation is a great problem, we are facing lately. To accommodate this huge population, we are using cultivable lands, which results also the food shortage. A great number of cultivated lands are neither more spheres nor productive. After 1980, it is being seen that most of the rural people is leaving village and they are more interested to live in the city, especially Dhaka city. For that reason, Dhaka has become a huge populated city, and also took place in the list of the top ten mega cities in the world.

Another cause of over population is due to the imbalance between the birth rate and the death rate. The fall in death rates that is decline in mortality rate is one fundamental causes of overpopulation. The new discoveries and inventions in the field of medical science have led to a huge decrease in mortality rate and an increase in population. The brighter side of it is that we have been able to fight many diseases and prevent deaths. On the other hand, the medical boon has brought with it, the curse of overpopulation. Then again the new discoveries in nutritional science, we have been able to bring in increase in the fertility rates of human beings. Medicines of today can boost the reproductive rate in human beings. There are medicines and treatments, which can help in conception. Thus, science has led to an increase in birth rate. This is certainly a reason to be proud and happy but advances in medicine have also become a cause of overpopulation. Though the medical science is developing the number of hospitals in Bangladesh is not increasing in that rate. Due to over population and scarcity of hospitals many can’t get access to hospitals privileges. People have to face huge sufferings due to this reason specially the people in the rural areas suffer the most.

The curse of overpopulation is a huge roadblock towards the development of Bangladesh. Bangladesh slowly is becoming incapable of providing its people with the adequate amount of resources. There are preventive measures for all the causes of overpopulation. The concerned authorities should step in before the curse of overpopulation becomes unbearable in Bangladesh and sinks our beloved country.