Population politics: nature and consequences
New Age - Bangladesh
(...) According to a recent report released by the United Nations Population Division, the world population—currently about 7 billion—will not stabilise at 9.3 billion by the middle of the twenty-first century as previously thought but will continue to grow till the end of the century. According to 2010 Revision of the World Population Prospects, the official UN population projections prepared by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs released in May 2011, the world population will hit a staggering 10.1 billion by the year 2100. (...) Based on the countries’ reported fertility rates, the UN Population Division divided the world into three categories: high fertility countries, intermediate fertility countries, and low fertility countries. (...) The UN Population Division identified Bangladesh as an intermediate-fertility country based on the information provided by the government. tan, Ghana, Yemen, Mozambique and Madagascar. Needless to say, the high-fertility The UN Population Division projects that the population of Bangladesh, an intermediate-fertility country, will grow to about 195 million by 2070s and then start to decline. However, like the census figures, this projection is also based on the assumption that Bangladesh will achieve a fertility rate of 1.8 or 1.9 within the next few years. Clearly this is unlikely to happen so soon. (...)
31 July 2011)

UN body rejigs Bangladesh head count
Bangladesh News 24 - Bangladesh
The United Nations Population Division has revised its head count figure for Bangladesh that drew flak from several quarters in 2010. To one's surprise, the UN has also revised drastically the mid-century (2050) population projection for Bangladesh, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UNFPA on October 21, 2010 in its 'State of the World Population 2010' said that 'the population of Bangladesh is now 164.4 million, with an annual growth rate of 1.4 percent'. The government, however, rejected the numbers outright, as it was 15 million more than the count of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) that conducts census every 10 years. Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith binned the report saying it was 'unauthoised meddling'. "They (UNFPA) have no such right," he said after the report was released. Finally, on May 3, 2011, the UN Population Division revised Bangladesh's population close to 149 million.Prior to 2004, the UN Population Division estimated that Bangladesh's population would reach 218 million in 2050, and in 2004, they said it would be 243 million. In 2006, they jumped up to 256 million and then dropped the figure in 2008 when they said Bangladesh's population would be 222.5 million, close to other estimates like the one of US Population Reference Bureau. Now they say in 2050, Bangladesh's population would be 194 million and 'that is the peak – thereafter population declines'. bdnews24.com tried drawing planning minister's attention to the issue at the release of the preliminary results of the 5th Population and Housing Census 2011, but he chose not to react.Later prime minister's advisor Mashiur Rahman in his speech quipped, "In the world of knowledge, if we think we are the only wise people, then knowledge will not expand." "We should also accept those, who cultivate knowledge," he added referring to a query bdnews24.com raised before the planning minister whether organisations other than the government's BBS had the mandate to generate population data. "It's ridiculous," said Ahmed-al Sabir, a population researcher and consultant of USA-based Measure Evaluation."It only creates confusion," he said, adding that BBS should remove such confusions in a pro-active manner. However, UNFPA assistant representative Noor Mohammad told bdnews24.com that they do not generate any population data. "We bring out a world population report every year using data from Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat." "They generate the counts taking different countries' statistics," he said, adding that population projections can be different due to different methods of calculation."As census is conducted every 10 years, the UN Population Division generates those data during the interim periods," he said, adding all UN organisations use those data. The preliminary results of the 5th Population and Housing Census 2011 showed Bangladesh's population hitting 142.319 million on March 15. (17 July 2011)

Unplanned urbanisation and future of Dhaka city
Financial Express - Bangladesh
Dhaka will be the second largest city in the world in terms of population by 2015, next to Tokyo, with a growth of urban population at a rate of 3.1 per cent per year, according to a report of the United Nations Population Division on agglomeration in the world cities. By then, the projected population of the metropolis will rise to 21.1 million.,…(10 July 2011)

Figures of population growth
Financial Express - Bangladesh
The estimate of the United Nations (UN) Population Division is also very close to the PRB figures. Thus, the dependable independent estimation of population trends in Bangladesh only point to the fact ,…(27 September 2010)

We should not miss the train
The Daily Star - Bangladesh
The UN Population Division has identified four historical shifts that will fundamentally alter the world's population in the next four decades,…(3 January 2010)

Climate change threatens to widen rich-poor gap
The Daily Star - Dhaka,Bangladesh
“We want the world leaders to have better understanding of population dynamics,” Erken said. The UN population division projects the world population now ... (19 November 2009)