Bangladesh Population

Bangladesh is a textbook success in family planning, having cut its fertility rate from around six children per woman in the 1970s to roughly the replacement level today, despite relatively low incomes. That achievement has slowed what was once breakneck growth, though the country remains one of the most densely populated on earth. Sitting on a low-lying delta, its demographic future is tightly bound up with its vulnerability to flooding and climate change.

Bangladesh is home to about 177 million people in 2026, the 8th largest population of any country. Set in Southern Asia, its demographic path this century turns on the balance of births, deaths and migration. It packs in roughly 1,366 people per square kilometre.

Bangladesh is projected to keep growing until about 2071, when its population peaks at roughly 226 million before a gradual decline sets in, leaving it near 209 million by 2100. The 200 million threshold is reached around 2039.

Fertility is around 2.14 births per woman, above the replacement level, which keeps natural growth positive for now. Net outward migration also weighs on the total, with more people leaving than arriving.

The median age is set to climb from about 26 today to roughly 49 by 2100, even as life expectancy improves from about 75 years. An older population gradually reshapes the labour force, pension systems and healthcare demand.

Read these numbers as the midpoint of a range. Under the UN's high and low fertility paths Bangladesh's 2100 population could land well above or below the figures here; the medium variant is simply the central case.