Population now 15.05cr

The country's present population is 15.05 crore, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
UNFPA's projection of population came in its yearly world population report launched yesterday. The report came three months after the much-discussed and debated preliminary results of the fifth national census, as per which the country has 14.23 crore people.
The population projection is satisfactory as it is close to the preliminary results of the national census, said Planning Minister AK Khandaker while addressing the launching of The State of the World Population 2011 report at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the capital.
However, for the final tally the country has to wait for the final report of the census, he said.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) officials said the final report would be published in May next year.
The UNFPA report says Bangladesh's population is more than the combined population of the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Singapore and Zimbabwe.
There has been a debate over the country's population count since UNFPA published its population report last year.
UNFPA in its 2010 report said the country had 16.44 crore people that year. Finance Minister AMA Muhith criticised the report saying the country's population was 14.60 crore as per government statistics.
In response, UNFPA revised its projection to 14.80 crore in March this year.
Authur Erken, UNFPA representative for Bangladesh, yesterday at the programme said the figure was not generated by UNFPA. The population division of the United Nations projected the population.
The division thought the population projection was too big and that was why they revised it later, he added.
In July, BBS published the preliminary results of the national census.
BBS officials said the final tally of the population will come after the post-enumeration check (PEC) in which Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) will verify the primary results and make necessary adjustments.
The PEC is supposed to be completed by September, but BIDS asked for some more time to complete the task, the planning minister said.
BBS officials believe the final results of the national census would be higher than the preliminary results, like what they saw in previous years.
Speaking at the programme yesterday, Riti Ibrahim, secretary of the statistics division of the planning ministry, said the preliminary tally was a result of "quick counting".
She said the UNFPA projection of 15.05 crore is "all right" as the final results of the census would be close to this.
However, neither the planning minister nor the statistics division secretary could tell when the final report will be out.
Population experts say incorrect population count would result in inaccurate and ineffective policy-making and development activities.
For lack of accurate population data, it will be difficult to measure the requirement of food production and import of various goods, and it will also result in wrong calculation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and per capita income, they say.