Socio-demographics of the elderly population in Bangladesh: evidence from a developing country

Mehedi Hasan Khan, Department of Population Sciences, University of Dhaka

The aim of this paper is to explore some of the basic socio-demographics of the emerging elderly population in Bangladesh. Information from the major data collecting bodies would be analyzed in this purpose. Bangladesh population has entered this millennium with new demographic trends of increased number and proportion of elderly people. The dramatic fertility decline and the declining mortality trends have impacted the age structure and the pre-condition of emergence of population ageing was set in. The growth rate of elderly population was quite higher than the national population. Although the percentage is not very high, the 9.4 million elderly people in 2008 are absolutely phenomenal in the country’s underdevelopment and population context. The life expectancy has increased by 18.7 years during the period of 1951 to 2008. Higher female life expectancy for the first time since 2001 is indicating a feminization of ageing in the future. Bangladesh population is projected to have 43.12 million elderly people which will constitute 17 percent of the total population in 2050 and would have severe socio-economic impacts. Socio-demographic analysis of this emerging sheer number of vulnerable population is extremely important for policy direction for the overall population and development scenario of the country.