{"id":6756,"date":"2025-11-29T05:53:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T05:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=6756"},"modified":"2026-09-06T08:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T08:15:19","slug":"bangladeshs-family-planning-stalls-as-fertility-rises-dhaka-now-worlds-no-2-megacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=6756","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh\u2019s Family Planning Stalls as Fertility Rises; Dhaka Now World\u2019s No. 2 Megacity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bangladesh\u2019s family planning program has drifted into paralysis just as fertility begins to rise and Dhaka surges to the world\u2019s second-largest city, according to two new datasets released within 10 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A nationwide Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2025) by UNICEF and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics reports total fertility at <strong>2.4 children per woman<\/strong>, reversing decades of steady decline. Separately, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) ranks <strong>Dhaka second globally by population<\/strong>, estimating <strong>36.6 million<\/strong> residents\u2014up from ninth place 25 years ago\u2014underscoring the scale of unmanaged urban growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Senior public officials and field data point to a stalled program. <strong>Family Planning Directorate Director-General Ashrafi Ahmad<\/strong> acknowledged widespread vacancies and commodity shortages. Of <strong>54,226<\/strong> sanctioned posts nationwide, <strong>14,981 (\u224828%)<\/strong> are unfilled. Frontline gaps are acute:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Family Welfare Assistants (FWA):<\/strong> 4,188 vacancies out of ~23,500 (\u224818%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Family Planning Inspectors:<\/strong> posts empty in <strong>373 unions<\/strong> (no oversight for FWAs there)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sub-Assistant Community Medical Officers (SACMO):<\/strong> <strong>878<\/strong> of ~2,500 posts vacant (\u224835%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Family Welfare Visitors (FWV):<\/strong> <strong>2,845<\/strong> of <strong>6,361<\/strong> posts vacant (\u224845%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Supply pipelines have also thinned. Officials in <strong>Koyra (Khulna)<\/strong> report all methods \u201c<strong>stopped<\/strong>\u201d for now; <strong>Juri (Moulvibazar)<\/strong> lacks <strong>IUDs and implants<\/strong>; two unions in <strong>Sitakunda (Chattogram)<\/strong> have <strong>half<\/strong> the needed condoms and pills. Monthly distribution of the government\u2019s standard oral pill fell from <strong>70\u201380 million packs pre-2020<\/strong> to <strong>19.4 million in October<\/strong>, with comparable <strong>~50%<\/strong> declines across condoms, injectables, IUDs and implants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The policy drift is years in the making. Although law mandates biennial meetings, the <strong>National Population Council<\/strong> reportedly met only <strong>once<\/strong> between 2009 and August 2024. In 2010, then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament she did not personally regard Bangladesh\u2019s population as a problem\u2014guidance that officials and field staff say dampened urgency across the system. After 2018 and up to the government change in August 2025, the Health Ministry operated without a state minister, typically responsible for family planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The MICS finding of <strong>TFR 2.4<\/strong> breaks a long pattern: fertility fell from above <strong>6<\/strong> in the early 1970s to <strong>2.3<\/strong> by 2012 and then flatlined at <strong>2.3<\/strong> through 2022. Targets set in the <strong>2012 Population Policy<\/strong>\u2014TFR <strong>2.1<\/strong> by 2015 and <strong>75%<\/strong> modern method use\u2014were never reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Population pressure is visible across sectors. With <strong>over 1,200 people per sq km<\/strong>, Bangladesh is among the world\u2019s most densely populated nations. Analysts warn of compounding impacts on <strong>housing, transport, health services and the environment<\/strong>. Undernutrition remains high, with <strong>24%<\/strong> of under-fives stunted; nearly <strong>20 million<\/strong> people live below the poverty line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Public-health specialist <strong>Abu Jamil Faisal<\/strong> said the state\u2019s stance bred complacency: \u201cA long period of practical standstill has caused serious damage. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if TFR reaches <strong>3<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Field leaders say urgent actions are clear: fill frontline posts, restore contraceptive supply chains (including IUDs, implants and injectables), and re-energize door-to-door services and community clinics. Without a rapid course correction, experts warn, population dynamics could outpace development gains\u2014and Dhaka\u2019s explosive growth may be a harbinger of broader national strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A news by Alisha Pradhan, General Secretary, HerNet Foundation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bangladesh\u2019s family planning program has drifted into paralysis just as fertility begins to rise and Dhaka surges to the world\u2019s second-largest city, according to two new datasets released within 10 days. A nationwide Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2025) by UNICEF and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics reports total fertility at 2.4 children per woman, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6756"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7612,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6756\/revisions\/7612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}