Over the past 30 years, Bangladesh hasachieved significant economic and human developmentprogress, and demonstrated impressive policy as well asprogrammatic commitment to lowering the fertility level.However, its future socioeconomic prospects may be hamperedby its population growth rate, depending on how quickly thefertility rates decline and at which point they stabilize.Projections estimate that the total population of Bangladeshin 2051 could increase to 218.1 million under a laissezfaire projection scenario and 201.3 million under anaccelerated fertility transition (AFT) scenario. Thisdifference would have significant impacts on publicspending, public services, and job creation. An AFT scenariowould enable the country to improve the dependency ratiospossibly resulting in economic benefits from harnessing thedemographic dividend for several decades. To accelerate thedemographic transition, the government will need torevitalize high-level coordination to ensure multisectoralengagement in population policies, including increasing theage at marriage, and improving education, skillsdevelopment, job creation, and social safety nets for thevulnerable population groups. In addition, a sustaineddecline in fertility through increased access and coverageof family planning (FP) services is crucial, mainly byfocusing on lagging regions and hard-to-reach areas, and byexpanding the supply and provision of FP long acting andpermanent methods. Strengthening the synergy andcoordination of service delivery between the Health and FPdirectorates by building capacity for systems strengthening;promoting cross-referral between programs; and efficientprovisioning of FP and reproductive health services throughcommunity clinics need to remain at the forefront of thegovernment s health improvement efforts in Bangladesh.
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