Dr. Muhammad Mahtab Hossain Mazed

National Statistics Day. National Statistics Day 2024 is being celebrated for the 4th time today on Tuesday. The government has decided to celebrate Statistics Day on February 27 every year. This decision was taken in the cabinet meeting on June 8, 2020. The National Parliament passed the Statistics Act on February 27, 2013. Based on this law, there is a radical change in the development of statistical management. In commemoration of this day, it is decided to observe National Statistics Day every year. Statistics play an important role in the economic development of a country. That is, the importance of statistics is immense in formulating a planned economy and setting sustainable development targets based on accurate, reliable statistics.

The importance of statistics is increasing day by day. Accurate statistics have become essential especially for a planned economy. Along with this, in the case of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is a severe lack of data, making it difficult to obtain accurate information. National Statistics Day is being celebrated today.

On August 26, 1974, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman established the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) by uniting four statistical organizations under different ministries. After passing the path of many friends, today the country's statistical system stands on a solid foundation.

And the importance of statistics has always been there. But now it has increased a lot. Because there is no substitute for statistics to understand the pulse of the country's economy. Moreover, the development and progress of the nation, everything is related to statistics. Planning is also needed for the balanced development of people. Now development planning is undertaken taking into account the global statistics. Considering its importance, in 1974 Father of the Nation Bangabandhu highlighted the importance of accurate statistics.

The total population of Bangladesh now stands at 16 crore 98 lakh 28 thousand 911 people. Among them, 4 crore 56 lakh 44 thousand 586 people live in Dhaka. The total population is 8 crore 41 lakh 34 thousand men, 8 crore 56 lakh 86 women and 8 thousand 124 people of the third sex. Where the number of women is about 50.46 percent of the total population and the number of men is 49.54 percent.

Among them, 11 crore 60 lakh 65 thousand 804 people live in rural areas and 5 crore 37 lakh 63 thousand 107 people live in cities.

According to BBS, Dhaka city has the highest population by division. Its number is 4 crore 56 lakh 44 thousand 586 people. It is followed by Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna.

Among them 3 crore 41 lakh 78 thousand in Chittagong, 2 crore 80 thousand in Rajshahi, 1 crore 80 lakh 20 thousand 71 in Rangpur, 1 crore 78 lakh 13 thousand 218 in Khulna, 1 crore 26 lakh 37 thousand 472 in Sylhet, 1 crore 14 lakh 15 thousand 113 and lowest in Barisal 93 lakh two lakh.

As of 2022, the population living in slums is 17 lakh 36 thousand 302 people. Where there is a majority of men, this number is eight lakh 97 thousand 403 people. The floating population is 22 thousand 185 people. Small ethnic group 16 lakh 50 thousand 478 people. In terms of religion, Muslims constitute 91.08 percent, Hindus 7.96 percent, Buddhists 0.61 percent, Christians 0.30 percent and others 0.06 percent.

* Religious population:- In the last decade, the Muslim population has increased in the country. In 2011 it was 90.39 percent, and in 2022 it was 91.08 percent. However, the number of Hindu population has decreased. In 2011 it was 8.54 percent. In 2022, it stood at 7.96 percent.

* Besides, the number of Buddhists has decreased from 0.62 percent to 0.61 percent.

* The number of Christians has decreased from 0.31 percent to 0.30 percent. And the number of other religions was zero and 14 percent earlier. Now it has reduced to 0.06 percent. How many people live in every square kilometer
In 2011, 976 people lived per square kilometer, but in 2022, 1,119 people lived per square kilometer.

* Number of married/unmarried men and women
There are 35.86 percent unmarried men in the country. On the other hand, the number of women is 22.04 percent. Currently, the number of married men is 62.76 percent and women are 67.32 percent.

* Signature:- The signature rate in the country has increased in the last decade. In 2011, it was 51.77 percent, in 2022 it increased to 74.80 percent. In terms of literacy, men have progressed, on average it is 76.71 percent. On the other hand, the number of women is 72.94 percent.
*Education system:- Although the number of students has decreased in general education system, the number of students has increased in technical education. In 2011, an average of 93.71 percent received general education, but in 2022, 98.26 percent came. In technology, this rate is zero decimal 71 percent in 2011 and zero decimal 81 percent in 202234.26 percent of the country's population is not in education, employment or even training. Where women are 52.76 percent.

* Agriculture:- 18.41 percent engaged in agriculture, 43.68 percent engaged in service sector, 37.91 percent in agriculture, 29.32 percent not working, 1.65 percent looking for work, 37.21 percent employed, 31 in domestic work 82.82 percent, 80.79 percent have their own house.
* House:- 80.79 percent own house, 14.32 percent in rented house.
* Electricity: 99.24 percent of households have electricity facilities in the country.
* Expatriate income:- 10.86 percent of expatriate income in the country comes from rural areas and 7.51 percent from urban areas.
* Mobile, Internet:- About 70 percent of people use mobile phones in the country, and 37 percent of people use the Internet.

The average population growth rate in 2011 census was 1.37. The population density has increased to 1 thousand 119 people. In the last census of 2011 which was 976 people. The signature rate has increased to 74.66 percent. In the previous census it was 51.77 percent. 55.89 percent of mobile phone users are over five years old. The number of internet users is 30.68 percent of the total population.

Now the total number of restaurants in the country is 4 crore 10 lakh. In the previous census it was 3 crore 21 lakh. Means the number of food is increasing. Khana size is now four members. Earlier it was 4.5 percent.

According to the religious population, Muslims are 91 percent. 7.95 percent of orthodox religion. In the 2011 census, Hindus were 8.54 percent. Buddhists were 0.61 percent. In the previous census it was 0.62 percent.

In 2001, the population of the country was 12 crore 43 lakh 55 thousand 263 people. In 1991 there were 10 crore 63 lakh 14 thousand 992 people. In 1981 there were 8 crore 71 lakh 19 thousand 965 people and in the first census of 1974 the population of the country was 7 crore 14 lakh 79 thousand 71 people. Incidentally, the 'Statistics Act, 2013' was passed by the National Parliament on 27 February 2013 to institutionalize the National Statistical System. Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman established the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics on August 26, 1974 by merging four statistical agencies (Statistics Bureau under the Planning Commission, Agricultural Statistics Bureau under the Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Census Commission, Census Commission under the Ministry of Home Affairs).

The Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman established the Department of Statistics under the Ministry of Planning on July 3, 1975 to coordinate, supervise and provide secretarial support to the overall activities of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. The Department of Statistics and Information Management was established in 2012 by the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the beautiful and well-planned Statistics Building at Agargaon on October 25, 1999. In 2020, February 27 was announced as Statistics Day.

Finally, to support the importance of statistics in Bangladesh, National Statistics Day is being celebrated for the 4th time today on February 27, 2024 in the whole of Bangladesh with the slogan "Smart Statistics Development Platform"By virtue of the Statistics Act-2013, the responsibility of producing official statistics assigned to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has become more important. Accurate statistics accelerate the development and planning of a country. It is not possible to implement the plans adopted for the development of the country without accurate and quality statistics. BBS has been working as one of the subsidiary organizations of Bangladesh Government which has taken the decision to build Smart Bangladesh from Digital Bangladesh. Since its inception, BBS has been conducting 06 (six) population censuses, 04 (four) agricultural censuses, 03 (three) economic censuses, 01 (one) textile censuses and various survey activities. Digital Bangladesh 1st Digital Census was successfully completed by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in 2022. The program of “Census and House Census-2022” is conducted by “Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI)” method, through which BBS has gone one step further in providing accurate, timely and objective statistics. Qualitative statistics collected from the field through round-the-clock monitoring through the use of digital devices have been provided to play a major role in the government's development plans within a very short period of time. BBS has already played a leading role by providing information and data in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)-2015 to highlight the position of Bangladesh in the whole world and to keep its status intact.

In order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals-2030, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and Statistics and Information Management Department (SID) are providing information on 156 indicators out of 232 indicators of SDG to the governmentHonorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the visionary of modern and digital Bangladesh, spoke about building "Smart Bangladesh" for the first time in her speech as the chief guest on the occasion of Digital Bangladesh Day on December 12, 2022. We will be able to build a hunger-poverty-free, developed-rich golden Bangladesh of the dream of the father of the nation by taking appropriate plans to build a smart Bangladesh from Digital Bangladesh in 2041 with the help of timely and accurate statistics. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has already started working to provide accurate, timely and objective statistics with the newly added information technology of Digital Bangladesh. In future, BBS will play a greater role in development and progress by producing standardized and accurate statistics. Therefore, on the International Statistics Day, Bangladesh should make a pledge to emphasize the adoption of statistics-based plans to build the future country and implement the country's economy.

The writer is a, columnist and researcher Founder Chairman,Jatiya Rogi Kallyan Society