Xahar might find that interesting ... (me too)

[Tender Branson]

Click on the link to get the final 2011 census results incl. a map with changes compared with 2001 and population density in each district:

http://www.citypopulation.de/Bangladesh-Mun.html

Dhaka and suburbs grew very fast, while Khulna lost quite a lot of residents. Any reason for this ?

[Tender Branson]

Here are the Urban Areas, which are bigger agglomerations:

http://www.citypopulation.de/Bangladesh-UA.html

(Bangladesh is basically one big city anyway ... )

[memphis]

What's the Muslim take on the birth control pill? If ever there were a place that needed some contraception, it's Bangladesh.

[Tender Branson]

I forgot that if you want to see the population density and change compared with 2001, you have to click on "mode" above the map.

BTW, Bangladesh's growth rate is going down on a relative basis, but not in nominal terms. Each decade, still 20 million people are added. But the rate has gone down from about 2% a year to about 1.5% a year.

[Χahar]

Dhaka's growing at tremendous speed. When I was in Bangladesh last month, my parents were talking about how places that were well outside the city when they were young are part of the metropolis now; there's no sign that this trend is stopping. The whole country is flat, so there are no natural boundaries to the city's growth except wide rivers.

What's the Muslim take on the birth control pill? If ever there were a place that needed some contraception, it's Bangladesh.

I don't know how widely used it is, but birth control is permissible from a religious standpoint and legal. So is early-term abortion, for that matter, although it's officially referred to by the euphemism of "menstrual regulation".

[Senator Sbane]

What's the Muslim take on the birth control pill? If ever there were a place that needed some contraception, it's Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's fertility rate is actually somewhere between 2.5 and 2.8 and is pretty much the world average. That's much better than most Middle Eastern and African nations. The damage was done earlier and in any case that part of the world has always had a large population relative to the rest of the world. Flat, fertile land through which two of the world's biggest rivers flow into the ocean and no frost or freeze so agriculture continues year round.

[Tender Branson]

Xahar, from which part of Bangladesh are your parents originally from ?

And do you know anything about Khulna's decline in the past 10 years ?

[Χahar]

My maternal grandmother is from Feni; the rest of my family is from around Sylhet. My dad's family is actually from the border regions of the Barak Valley; I have relatives who still live in India. Both of my parents were raised in Dhaka.

I don't know anything about changes in Khulna offhand; I can try to find out.

[London Man]

What's the Muslim take on the birth control pill? If ever there were a place that needed some contraception, it's Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's fertility rate is actually somewhere between 2.5 and 2.8 and is pretty much the world average. That's much better than most Middle Eastern and African nations. The damage was done earlier and in any case that part of the world has always had a large population relative to the rest of the world. Flat, fertile land through which two of the world's biggest rivers flow into the ocean and no frost or freeze so agriculture continues year round.

Agree. Ever heard of the demographic transition model? I would say that Bangladesh is entering Stage 3 now.

Lowering of infant mortality rates ultimately lowers birth rates, but it takes a while.

This table might also be interesting.

[Tender Branson]

What's the Muslim take on the birth control pill? If ever there were a place that needed some contraception, it's Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's fertility rate is actually somewhere between 2.5 and 2.8 and is pretty much the world average. That's much better than most Middle Eastern and African nations. The damage was done earlier and in any case that part of the world has always had a large population relative to the rest of the world. Flat, fertile land through which two of the world's biggest rivers flow into the ocean and no frost or freeze so agriculture continues year round.

Agree. Ever heard of the demographic transition model? I would say that Bangladesh is entering Stage 3 now.

Lowering of infant mortality rates ultimately lowers birth rates, but it takes a while.

This table might also be interesting.

Yeah, definitely stage 3:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Bangladesh#Vital_statistics

[Vasall des Midas]

(Bangladesh is basically one big city anyway ... )

No, it's one big rice paddy interrupted by large agrotowns every couple of miles. Plus some cities, of course.
Java, were it an independent country, has a similar population density. And Java has some remote mountain regions.