The average life expectancy of Bangladeshis has increased to 72.6 years in 2019, as compared to 72.3 years in 2018, according to a report of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

Planning Minister MA Mannan unveiled the report titled "Monitoring the Situation of Vital Statistics of Bangladesh" online today.

The life expectancy of males in the country currently is 71.1 years, while that of females is 74.2 years, says the report.

In 2018, the life expectancy of men was 70.8 years and that of women was 73.8 years.

The population in the country was estimated at 166.50 million in 2019. Of them, 83.17 million were females, according to the findings mentioned in the report.

The estimated national population was 164.6 million in 2018.

Average literacy rate of the population currently is 74.4 while it was 73.2 in 2018, the report says.