UNFPA Representative speaks at East West University on Population and Development

Caption: Mr. Arthur Erken, the UNFPA representative in Bangladesh is giving a lecture on population and development at East West University on 25 June.   

Mr. Arthur Erken, the UNFPA Representative in Bangladesh made a courtesy visit to East West University, and gave a colloquium lecture on Population and Development to the students and faculty members at the university auditorium on 25 June.

In his presentation, Mr. Erken showed the global population trends and Bangladesh population prognosis and challenges. Mr Erken revealed that Bangladesh is globally acclaimed as a success story in fertility reduction across different wealth groups starting from a low income and literacy base, yet the population would grow to 225 million by 2050 from today’s 150 million due to momentum and young age structure. In a context like this, the ideal policy might be to delay the child birth by 2 years in a country where persistent early marriage is prevalent across all income groups. The rising unmet need is hindering the progress towards achiveing replacement level fertility.

Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, President, Board of Trustees of EWU, chaired the whole session and also took part in the discussion. He underscored the need for rapid increase in tertiary, technical and vocational education that would augment the country twin benefits, transforming the country’s large population into human capital and reducing fertility due to women’s economic participation. Dr. Rafiqul Huda Choudhury, member, Board of Trustees of EWU and former UNFPA CST advisor also explained the regional variations in reproductive health indicators in low performing areas like Sylhet and Chittagong while exploring some unique Bangladeshi paradox. Deans, faculty members, administrative personnel and students of EWU took part in this event to listen from the Representative on this issue.