The Bureau of Statistics (BBS) released the consolidated population of Census and House Census 2022 in the light of the PEC (Post Enumeration Check) survey at the Planning Ministry’s NEC meeting room on Sunday (April 9). In that event, it was informed that the cost of the ongoing Census and House Census 2022 project has been estimated at Tk. 1,761 crore. The Planning Minister and the State Minister have given their opinion in favor of getting out of the system of waiting 10 years to know the population of the country at such an expense. Meanwhile, they directed the Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to find a way to disseminate the country’s population data from digital to smart Bangladesh within one year.
First of all, Planning Minister MA Mannan expressed his stand against the census by spending so much at this time of incredible development of communication technology. In the event, instead of waiting ten years for the census, he gave his opinion in favor of updating the census every year with the help of information technology.
The minister said, “I think it can be managed at a much lower cost. We have to figure out how to do it more digitally and at a lower cost.”
Why should I spend one and a half thousand crores on the census? We have to get out of this trend.’
In response to a question, the minister said, “Why wait ten years for a survey. As in the developed world, it is possible to update the census every year using digital systems. Apart from the USA, many countries of the world, including neighboring India, update their census digitally.
“Especially in Finland it’s happening every year. We have to figure out how to do that.”
The State Minister Professor Dr. Md, Shamsul Alam spoke in the same tone. He said, in the Netherlands, population data is published within a year. The same is happening in other European countries. He urged us to look into whether the census data can be published in our country within a year or not. The Minister of State for Planning said that he would come out of the trend of doing census by random.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) conducted the country’s first digital census and household census from June 15-21 last year. The enumerated total population of the country is given by publishing the preliminary report on July 27, within a month of the end of the census.
The Bangladesh Institute of Development Research (BIDS) independently and independently conducted the post-census verification PEC survey in October last year to determine the coverage and content errors caused during enumeration after completing the census according to statistical methods and international protocols.
The Project Director of Census and Household Census-2022 at the press conference Md. Dildar Hossain presented a comparative picture of total population enumerated in census and adjusted through PEC. According to the data of this sixth census, about 57 percent of the total population in the country, or about 94 million people, are below 29 years of age. That is, the demographic advantage of population due to youth is completely in favor of Bangladesh. It is seen that the number of people under 29 years of age in the country is about 57 percent of the total population. Among them, the number of 15 to 19 year olds is the highest. The population of this age group is about 1 crore 72 lakh, which is 10.10 percent of the total population.
The Secretary of Statistics and Information Management Department Md. Shahnaz Arefin and BIDS Director General Dr. Vinayak Sen were also present.
The officials of Statistics and Information Management Department, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and BIDS, university professors and journalists of Development Journalists Forum of Bangladesh (DJFB) were also present.
According to the preliminary report of Census and House Census-2022, the total population of the country was 16 crore 51 lakh 58 thousand 616 people. Another 46 lakh 70 thousand 295 people were added in PEC (Post Enumeration Check) and the adjusted total population of the country stood at 16 crore 98 lakh 28 thousand 911 people.
