Monirul Alam :
Slums dwellers in cities, municipalities, urban and other areas are less caring about population growth and its adverse consequences. The adolescents while emerging as fresh couple after marriage add newborns unaccountably, experts say.
According to a survey, titled ‘Census of Slum Areas and Floating Population 2014’ carried out by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in the slum areas, a total of 2.2 million human populations were counted. BBS’s Population and Housing Census 2011 say the slum populations account for 6.33 percent of the urban population and 1.48 percent of the total population (166 million) of the country. In 1997 census, total slum population was 1.3 million. The annual population growth rate in the slum census 2014 found 2.70 percent.
“Those living in slums are continuously struggling for livelihood: thus they have hardly any time to enjoy a planned family life,” said Dr Md. Aminul Haque, former chairman of the Department of Population Science Studies of Dhaka University.
He said the target of small family is owned by the government. “So, they don’t have time to think about it because of insecurity in the areas of income, protecting family life, hardship in access to healthcare facility, education, food, sanitation and pure drinking water.”
He said, slum dwellers have no loyalty to government or anyone. “It is because, none is taking care of them. They fight themselves for food … everything they need to live. At the end of every month, a slum dweller has to pay rent and he/she is more busy in collecting that.”
“One glaring feature of the population in slums is heterogeneous in nature and they cannot enjoy sustainable family life, in many cases. Because, reasons for settling at slums are poverty, loss of homes by natural calamities and river erosion, job-seeking, divorce or separation, unemployment and low income. Many NGOs have been working in slums in order to improve livelihood, but success comes rare,” he said adding that underage marriage and polygamy are common in slums.
The BBS census provides information that garment workers constitute 13.18 percent at slums, highest among the economically active slum population, followed by 6. 92 percent rickshaw pullers, 6.41 percent domestic servant, 3.45 percent construction workers, 3.02 percent transport workers and 1.45 percent operates small businesses.
The housing structures within slum areas are made of relatively cheaper materials like straw, leaves, polythene sheets, wood, bamboo, coarse papers, while some are Tin-built and Pucca or Semi-Pucca.
In city corporation areas, 42.54 percent of slum households use pit latrines which is followed by sanitary (water sealed) latrine of 25.97 percent households and 23.61 percent hanging or kutcha and 1.82 percent open space.
However, 89.65 percent slum households have access to electricity as source of light and a few has access to kitchen space.
Out of total slum dwellers, 51.25 percent are males and 48.67 percent are females while a meager of 0.08 percent are hijra (Transgender) people, according to the 2014 census.
Meanwhile, experts say a high ratio of adolescent group of the country’s total population is getting married at early stage of age as they do not know enough about marriage and giving birth to children. As result, expected mothers are suffering from multiple complications of health before, during and post delivery times as well as risks to conceived baby’ leading to high maternal and newborn’s death.
The maternal mortality rate currently is 176 per one lakh birth deliveries in Bangladesh, according to Directorate General of Family Planning’s provisional data. The death rate of newborn is 24 and that of children aged below 5 is 35 per one thousand.
In Bangladesh, the legal age of marriage is 18 for girls. But a significant number of girls are getting married before 18, which is called child marriage.
“Adolescent fertility rate is still high. For this, we are at critical zone in case of reducing population growth,” said Mohammed Mainul Islam, incumbent Chairman of Department of Population Science of University of Dhaka.
He said adolescents are careless about health complications during conjugal life and giving birth to children.
“The rate of use of contraceptives among adolescent couples is also low,” he said.
He said floating people are also contributing to growth of human population.
According to the BBS’s 2014 census, about 16,621 persons were counted as floating of which males were 12,509 and females 4,078. Of them, hijra (Transgender) population numbered 34.
Slums dwellers in cities, municipalities, urban and other areas are less caring about population growth and its adverse consequences. The adolescents while emerging as fresh couple after marriage add newborns unaccountably, experts say.
According to a survey, titled ‘Census of Slum Areas and Floating Population 2014’ carried out by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in the slum areas, a total of 2.2 million human populations were counted. BBS’s Population and Housing Census 2011 say the slum populations account for 6.33 percent of the urban population and 1.48 percent of the total population (166 million) of the country. In 1997 census, total slum population was 1.3 million. The annual population growth rate in the slum census 2014 found 2.70 percent.
“Those living in slums are continuously struggling for livelihood: thus they have hardly any time to enjoy a planned family life,” said Dr Md. Aminul Haque, former chairman of the Department of Population Science Studies of Dhaka University.
He said the target of small family is owned by the government. “So, they don’t have time to think about it because of insecurity in the areas of income, protecting family life, hardship in access to healthcare facility, education, food, sanitation and pure drinking water.”
He said, slum dwellers have no loyalty to government or anyone. “It is because, none is taking care of them. They fight themselves for food … everything they need to live. At the end of every month, a slum dweller has to pay rent and he/she is more busy in collecting that.”
“One glaring feature of the population in slums is heterogeneous in nature and they cannot enjoy sustainable family life, in many cases. Because, reasons for settling at slums are poverty, loss of homes by natural calamities and river erosion, job-seeking, divorce or separation, unemployment and low income. Many NGOs have been working in slums in order to improve livelihood, but success comes rare,” he said adding that underage marriage and polygamy are common in slums.
The BBS census provides information that garment workers constitute 13.18 percent at slums, highest among the economically active slum population, followed by 6. 92 percent rickshaw pullers, 6.41 percent domestic servant, 3.45 percent construction workers, 3.02 percent transport workers and 1.45 percent operates small businesses.
The housing structures within slum areas are made of relatively cheaper materials like straw, leaves, polythene sheets, wood, bamboo, coarse papers, while some are Tin-built and Pucca or Semi-Pucca.
In city corporation areas, 42.54 percent of slum households use pit latrines which is followed by sanitary (water sealed) latrine of 25.97 percent households and 23.61 percent hanging or kutcha and 1.82 percent open space.
However, 89.65 percent slum households have access to electricity as source of light and a few has access to kitchen space.
Out of total slum dwellers, 51.25 percent are males and 48.67 percent are females while a meager of 0.08 percent are hijra (Transgender) people, according to the 2014 census.
Meanwhile, experts say a high ratio of adolescent group of the country’s total population is getting married at early stage of age as they do not know enough about marriage and giving birth to children. As result, expected mothers are suffering from multiple complications of health before, during and post delivery times as well as risks to conceived baby’ leading to high maternal and newborn’s death.
The maternal mortality rate currently is 176 per one lakh birth deliveries in Bangladesh, according to Directorate General of Family Planning’s provisional data. The death rate of newborn is 24 and that of children aged below 5 is 35 per one thousand.
In Bangladesh, the legal age of marriage is 18 for girls. But a significant number of girls are getting married before 18, which is called child marriage.
“Adolescent fertility rate is still high. For this, we are at critical zone in case of reducing population growth,” said Mohammed Mainul Islam, incumbent Chairman of Department of Population Science of University of Dhaka.
He said adolescents are careless about health complications during conjugal life and giving birth to children.
“The rate of use of contraceptives among adolescent couples is also low,” he said.
He said floating people are also contributing to growth of human population.
According to the BBS’s 2014 census, about 16,621 persons were counted as floating of which males were 12,509 and females 4,078. Of them, hijra (Transgender) population numbered 34.
