The Bangladesh population with the present growth rate will reach 25.41 crore in 2050, says the report, released simultaneously in other countries of the world. The country’s population in 2007 was 14.71 crore.

The total fertility rate has, however, decreased to 2.81 in 2008 compared to 2.98 in 2007, says the report.

It said the per capita gross national income dropped to $1,230 in 2008 from $2090 in 2007. The GNI of Bangladesh lies far below than other countries of the subcontinent like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka where the per capita income is $4,000, $2,410 and $3,730 respectively. The Bangladesh’s GNI is slightly better than Nepal where it is $1,010.

Unveiling the report on the State of World Population 2008 at the National Press Club, UNFPA acting representative Pornchai Suchitta said this yearο’s report was focused on culture, gender and human rights.

This year is the 60th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the report calls for culturally sensitive approaches to development, promote human rights in general and women rights in particular, he said.

Gender inequality remains widespread and deep-rooted in many cultures and the report calls for action to increase cultural knowledge, Pornchai added. Men are primary decision makers about child bearing, contraceptive use while women themselves have no power to decide issues of their reproductive health, the UNFPA official said.

He said the denial of womenο’s right to take decision on reproductive life along with malnutrition, early marriage and violence are the reasons of incredibly high population growth, maternal mortality and child mortality and key impediments to achieve the millennium development goals.

It is a striking fact that women and girls are three fifths of the worldο’s one billion poorest people, women are two thirds of 960 million adults who cannot read and girls are 70 per cent of the 130 million children who are out of school, he said portraying the global situation.

The UNFPA executive, quoting the report, said cultural constraints rather than poverty held women back from using family planning and programmes could succeed even if there had been little economic development.

In Bangladesh, some laws are not women friendly and therefore they do not enjoy equal rights to marriage, divorce, guardianship and inheritance although the constitution provides equal rights to men and women in public life, he observed.

Despite Bangladeshο’s commitment to the Beijing platform for action to enact and periodically review domestic legislation to punish and redress violence against women in the home, workplace, community and society, very little is progressed in amending discriminatory laws and some of the provision of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, he said.

In all stages of life, women suffer from malnutrition more than men and lack access to healthcare, the UNFPA executive said. The UNFPA is committed to contribute towards achieving the goals of international conference on population and development and the millennium development goals.

Other demographic, social and economic indicators of the report show that the energy consumption per capita is very much low in Bangladesh, which is 158 units compared to 491, 490, 338 and 477 units respectively in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Additional director general of health services Hosne Ara Tahmin and UNFPA’s programme officers Noor Mohammad and Mozaharul Islam Khan were also present.