NEWS reports show that life expectancy in the country rose to 70.4 years in 2013 from 69.4 a year ago, according to a new survey of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). According to the Sample Vital Registration System, it was 65.2 years in 2005. The reports stated that the progress reflected an overall improvement in the living standards, thanks to steady economic growth, and increased income, education and health awareness. Academics believe that this is the compound effect of a number of factors, including rising health consciousness and increased availability of healthcare facilities in the country and also because the level of poverty has declined overtime while income and education standard have risen. Collected data show that the death rate fell to 5.3 per 1,000 people in 2013 from 5.8 in 2005. Maternal mortality rate came down to 1.97 per 1,000 live births in 2013 from 3.48 in 2005. The BBS also found the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) among women, aged between 15 and 49, was declining.
However, rising life expectancy warrants urgent policy planning by the state, as the number of elderly people, now 1.15 crore, will rise. Experts feel that by 2050, people above 60 are projected to constitute 20 percent of the total population and population density per square kilometre rose to 1,049 in 2013 from 939 in 2005, the study finds.
The statistics seem to suggest that average life expectancy of Bangladeshis is on the rise, but it is a bland statistics which do not take into consideration factors such as issues that affect development of living conditions like political instability, food adulteration and health, limited access to necessary resources and many others. While we do believe some improvement has come from non-government organization campaigns and initiatives taken by the government, a lot needs to be done to further improve the situation. If we have too many surviving elderly people without resources to take care of them in the future, we will not be able to handle their burden as a nation. So proper planning is necessary to take care of long-term problems of progress.
