Census

Census in modern usage, the term ‘census’ may be defined as the total process of collecting, compiling, and publishing demographic, social and economic data about the population of a defined territory at a specified time or times. It is the unique source of reliable and comprehensive data and may be considered as the largest single data-gathering exercise carried out in a country. The first population census in Bengal was undertaken along with other parts of India-Bangladesh-Pakistan sub-continent under the British rule in 1872. But the attempt failed to achieve its objectives. The primary reason was that the people, suspicious of the population count, did not cooperate with the enumerators. This led to take a second census in 1881. According to demographers, the censuses of the first three decades of the 20th century (i.e. of 1901, 1911, and 1921) were fairly reliable.

The censuses of 1931 and 1941 lost their credibility due to fabrication of census data due to a number of reasons. Hindus and Muslims, motivated by communal enthusiasm, tended to submit false returns in favor of their respective communities. The census of 1951, the first census for East Pakistan, suffered weaknesses of a different kind. The census of 1961 is regarded as the most reliable count undertaken since 1901.

Since the census of 1881, the subsequent censuses in the area now constituting Bangladesh had been carried out every ten years in the year ending in ‘1’ until 1961. After independence of Bangladesh, the first census of the country scheduled to be held in 1971 was conducted in 1974 due to the war of liberation.

The 1981 census was the second census in the free soil of Bangladesh after the War of Liberation in 1971. The third decennial census of Bangladesh was conducted between March 12 and March 15, 1991. The fourth population census was taken during 23 January–27 January, 2001. Following the decennial tradition of conducting the population census, the fifth census was conducted from the 15th to 19th of March 2011.

Population Size and Implied Rate of Growth 1901–2011 In 1901, the population of Bangladesh was about 29 million, which rose to 36 million in 1931, only about 24% increase in 30 years. By the next 30 years, the rise was abrupt; nearly 43%. Within a period of only 20 years (1961–1981), more than 26 million people were added implying an increase of 71% within this short span of time. The population stood at 111.5 million in 1991. The census of 2001 recorded a population of 130.5 million, implying an addition of over 39 million people in 20 years since 1981. In the next 20 years, the population of Bangladesh increased by about 67 percent: from 89.9 million to 149.8 million. Based on the 2001–2011 intercensal growth rate, it is estimated that the population of Bangladesh will be close to 170 million in the next census date in 2021.

The urban population increased as a percentage of the total population from 2.6% in 1911 to 5.2% in 1961. After the independence of Bangladesh, the urban population was 6.27 million in 1974 which increased to 20.87 million in 1991 and 29.25 million in 2001. The annual growth rate of the urban population was 3.43% during 1991-2001 and 1.29% during 2001–2011 reaching to over 35 million in 2011 since 2001 (BBS, 2015: 36).

Population Density With a population of 214 persons per square kilometer in 1911 census year, the density stood at 976 persons per square km in 2011. This amounts to about a five-fold increase in the density in 100 years.

Sex and Composition The sex ratio was 104.5 in 1901, which slowly began to increase till 1951 reaching to 109.7, an increase of about 5 percent in 50 years. It then started to fall rapidly and reached to as low as 100.3 in 2011, suggesting a precipitous fall of about 9 percent in another 60 years.

Dependency Ratio Dependency ratio is the proportion of dependent population to the working age population. In the census reports, the dependents are those who are under 15 years of age and 60 years and over, while the working group consists of those who are aged 15–59. These ratios calculated from 11 census age distributions undertaken during 1911–2011varied from 88 percent in 1911 to 73 percent in 2011.

Religious Composition Bangladesh is predominantly an Islamic country where about 90 percent people are Muslims. The remaining 10 percent are believers of other religions. There have been virtually little changes in the religious composition over the last 20 years. For example, in 1991, the Muslim population constituted 87 percent of the total population, which increased to 89.9 percent in 2011.

Age at Marriage Census data do not allow us to calculate mean age at marriage; instead we calculate Singulate mean age at marriage (SMAM), an indirect mean age at first marriage from proportions of never married population. The SMAM for females was only 12.6 years in 1931. During 1931–1974, this mean increased by 3.3 years. Since 1974, the female SMAM increased from 15 years to 19.6 years in 2011. The SMAM clearly shows that the mean age at marriage has consistently increased from its 1931 level to 2011. It is true for both sexes. Over this period, the mean age at marriage for males has gone up by 6.2 years. This is 6.8 years for females.

Literacy Rate The literacy rate of population aged 7 years and above was 26.8 percent in 1974, which increased to 51.8 percent in 2011. This increase was significantly more pronounced among the males than among the females. Adult literacy rate for population aged 15 years and above in 2011 is 53. In adult literacy, the increase was more pronounced among the females. [M Ataharul Islam]

References BBS (2015). Population and Housing Census 2011. National Report, Volume–1; BBS (2018). Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh 2018. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Dhaka.

See also population.