Bangladesh’s Population - Part C

A key to understanding the changing wellbeing of Bangladesh is its population characteristics. This
unit of work will help you develop this understanding.

1. Where do Bangladeshis live?

Look at Bangladesh’s Population Density Map…It is a choropleth map in shade of red and pink:

a. Find the Dhaka District of Bangladesh. This is the country’s major city.
b. What is its population density?
 The population density of Dhaka is >4000/km^2
c. How does it compare to Melbourne’s population of around 500 people per square
kilometre?
It shows that Dhaka is severely overpopulated and congested, it is 8 times more people per
km^2 despite still being smaller in size.
d. Remember the video clips you looked on Dhaka: what is the main reason for the difference
in densities in these two cities?
Living in other parts of the country means that many have to live an arduous life working on
farms and constantly live a poverty ridden life, most people move from the country side in
hopes of finding jobs and getting an education and eventually these families find themselves
in slums working hard labour for little pay for most of their lives to put bread on the table
and give an education to their children
e. There are two areas of Bangladesh with low population densities. Identify their location.
South eastern areas of Bangladesh have low population densities, districts such as
Khagracchari and Ramgamati have <250/km^2
f. For each of these areas, discover the landscape feature that could inhibit higher densities.

The landscape of these areas are very mountainous, this feature would inhibit the ability for many
houses to be built and would thus reduce population density

2. Paba District is a typical high density rural area of Bangladesh. Search for: Pabna on Google
Earth. This should take you to a satellite image of Pabna and the surrounding area.
a. What is the name of the main river flowing through the image area?
Padma River
b. Now zoom into the city of Pabna and move northwest of it to between the Asian Grocery
Store and Amir Store. you are now in a typical rural landscape.
i. What appears to be the main land uses in the open spaces?
It seems to be used for agricultural purposes or for housing
ii. In what ways do they connect to the village areas? (think about several ways)
The use of beaten tracks, footpaths and roads are a few of the ways they are
connected to the village areas
iii. Describe the layout of the village areas.
The houses are scattered around the open land, many are situated near tall trees,
however, there is a lot of empty land used for agriculture where houses have not
been established.

3. Bangladesh’s Population in a Diagram

Go to: PopulationPyramid.net and locate Bangladesh 2021.

a. Does the Bangladesh pyramid look like a pyramid – why or why not?
Not really, the base of the pyramid is contracting
b. Which is the largest male and female group combined?
Over 15.4M = 15-19 years of age
c. What percentage of the population is this combined group?
Roughly 9% of the total population
d. Beyond 64 years, the “pyramid” gets very narrow. what could this indicate?
 They have a very low life expectancy and the healthcare system, sanitation and funding for
the elderly is bad
e. The number of babies being born per woman had been dropping in Bangladesh. How does
this show on the diagram?
The ages of 0-4 is contracting at the base of the pyramid, this indicates that birth rate is low
or the IMR is high

f. Most couples have children between the ages of 15 and 45. Look at the size of this group on
the pyramid. What does this suggest about the potential for future population growth? Be
sure to give your reasons.
Potential future growth could be exponential in Bangladesh if the IMR is relatively low, this
would change the population pyramid to a more pyramidal shape and thus indicate a
growing population

g. You can adjust the diagram. Change the year to 1981. Comment on the shape of the
pyramid then.
The shape of this pyramid is somewhat pyramidal; however, the base is far wider than the
rest of the pyramid and indicates a very high birth rate in accordance with a very low life
expectancy

h. In 1981, were births occurring at a higher or lower rate than 2021? How can you tell?
They are occurring at a high rate because the base is much wider than 2021 however there
is more infant mortality

i. Health facilities for babies and young children have improved in Bangladesh. Where does it
show on the 1981 pyramid and why?
The age groups of 15-100+ has widened compared to the 1981 pyramid, indicating a longer
life expectancy which is also a result of improved health facilities for babies

j. Now move to 2051: what’s predicted to happen to the shape and why?
Bangladesh is predicted to become an aging population, this is due to the very low birth
rates which falls under the replacement rate, hence there would be more older individuals.
It is also important to consider the fact that many elderlies don’t live to a very high age
majority is from 50-59 years of age

k. Construct a table to show the percentages of the population in the 0-4, 35-39, 70-74 age
groups plus total population for 1981, 2021 and 2051.

0-4 35-39 70-74 Total pop

1981 17.36% 5.26% 0.86% 81,767,516
2021 8.48% 7.70% 1.68% 166,303,494
2051 5.24% 7.10% 4.26% 192,690,991

l. Comment on what you find.

The birth rates have decreased severely over the past 70 years, middle aged individuals have
remained fairly similar however, has increased from 1981-2021 then dropped slightly in 2051. The
age of the elderly has increased over the 70 years which indicates an improvement in health services
and infrastructure.

Go further….

Have a look at some very different population pyramids now, in the past and in the future using
PopulationPyramid.net.

Here are some suggestions: Japan, China, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Australia and Italy.