Population of Bangladesh 1800-2020

In 1800, the population of the area of modern-day Bangladesh was estimated to be just over 19 million, a figure which would rise steadily throughout the 19th century, reaching over 26 million by 1900. At the time, Bangladesh was the eastern part of the Bengal region in the British Raj, and had the most-concentrated Muslim population in the subcontinent's east. At the turn of the 20th century, the British colonial administration believed that east Bengal was economically lagging behind the west, and Bengal was partitioned in 1905 as a means of improving the region's development. East Bengal then became the only Muslim-majority state in the eastern Raj, which led to socioeconomic tensions between the Hindu upper classes and the general population.Bengal FamineDuring the Second World War, over 2.5 million men from across the British Raj enlisted in the British Army and their involvement was fundamental to the war effort. The war, however, had devastating consequences for the Bengal region, as the famine of 1943-1944 resulted in the deaths of up to three million people (with over two thirds thought to have been in the east) due to starvation and malnutrition-related disease. As the population boomed in the 1930s, East Bengal's mismanaged and underdeveloped agricultural sector could not sustain this growth; by 1942, food shortages spread across the region, millions began migrating in search of food and work, and colonial mismanagement exacerbated this further. On the brink of famine in early-1943, authorities in India called for aid and permission to redirect their own resources from the war effort to combat the famine, however these were mostly rejected by authorities in London. While the exact extent of each of these factors on causing the famine remains a topic of debate, the general consensus is that the British War Cabinet's refusal to send food or aid was the most decisive. Food shortages did not dissipate until late 1943, however famine deaths persisted for another year.Partition to independenceFollowing the war, the movement for Indian independence reached its final stages as the process of British decolonization began. Unrest between the Raj's Muslim and Hindu populations led to the creation of two separate states in1947; the Muslim-majority regions became East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (now Pakistan), separated by the Hindu-majority India. Although East Pakistan's population was larger, power lay with the military in the west, and authorities grew increasingly suppressive and neglectful of the eastern province in the following years. This reached a tipping point when authorities failed to respond adequately to the Bhola cyclone in 1970, which claimed over half a million lives in the Bengal region, and again when they failed to respect the results of the 1970 election, in which the Bengal party Awami League won the majority of seats. Bangladeshi independence was claimed the following March, leading to a brutal war between East and West Pakistan that claimed between 1.5 and three million deaths in just nine months. The war also saw over half of the country displaced, widespread atrocities, and the systematic rape of hundreds of thousands of women. As the war spilled over into India, their forces joined on the side of Bangladesh, and Pakistan was defeated two weeks later. An additional famine in 1974 claimed the lives of several hundred thousand people, meaning that the early 1970s was one of the most devastating periods in the country's history. Independent BangladeshIn the first decades of independence, Bangladesh's political hierarchy was particularly unstable and two of its presidents were assassinated in military coups. Since transitioning to parliamentary democracy in the 1990s, things have become comparatively stable, although political turmoil, violence, and corruption are persistent challenges. As Bangladesh continues to modernize and industrialize, living standards have increased and individual wealth has risen. Service industries have emerged to facilitate the demands of Bangladesh's developing economy, while manufacturing industries, particularly textiles, remain strong. Declining fertility rates have seen natural population growth fall in recent years, although the influx of Myanmar's Rohingya population due to the displacement crisis has seen upwards of one million refugees arrive in the country since 2017. In 2020, it is estimated that Bangladesh has a population of approximately 165 million people.

公元1800年，现代孟加拉国地区的居民人数估计仅为1900万左右，这一数字在整个19世纪稳步上升，到1900年时已超过2600万。当时，孟加拉国是英属印度东北部的孟加拉地区，拥有该次大陆东部最集中的穆斯林人口。进入20世纪转折点，英国殖民政府认为东孟加拉在经济上落后于西部，因此为了促进该地区的发展，1905年孟加拉被分割。此后，东孟加拉成为东印度唯一以穆斯林为主体的州，这导致了印度教上层阶级与普通民众之间的社会经济紧张关系。孟加拉饥荒在第二次世界大战期间，超过250万名来自英属印度的男子应征加入英国军队，他们的参与对于战争的努力至关重要。然而，战争给孟加拉地区带来了毁灭性的后果，1943-1944年的饥荒导致至三百万人死亡（其中超过三分之二被认为是在东部），这些人因饥饿和营养不良相关疾病而死亡。20世纪30年代，随着人口激增，东孟加拉管理不善且欠发达的农业部门无法维持这种增长；到1942年，粮食短缺蔓延至整个地区，数百万开始迁徙以寻找食物和工作，殖民统治的失策进一步加剧了这一情况。1943年初，印度当局呼吁援助并获准将自身资源从战争努力中调拨出来以应对饥荒，然而这些请求大多被伦敦的当局拒绝。尽管每个因素对饥荒影响的确切程度仍是一个争议话题，但普遍观点认为，英国战时内阁拒绝提供食物或援助是最为关键的决定。粮食短缺直到1943年末才缓解，但饥荒造成的死亡仍持续了另一年。独立与分割在战争之后，印度独立运动进入最后阶段，英国殖民统治开始解体。英属印度穆斯林和印度教人口之间的动荡导致了1947年两个独立国家的建立；穆斯林多数地区成为东巴基斯坦（现为孟加拉国）和西巴基斯坦（现为巴基斯坦），这两个国家由印度教多数的印度隔开。尽管东巴基斯坦的人口更多，但权力掌握在西部军事当局手中，此后当局对东部省份的压制和忽视日益加剧。当当局未能适当应对1970年的博拉旋风，该旋风在孟加拉地区造成超过五十万人的死亡时，这种情况达到了顶点，以及在1970年的选举中，孟加拉国人民联盟赢得多数席位时，当局未能尊重选举结果。1971年3月，孟加拉国宣布独立，随后东巴基斯坦和西巴基斯坦之间爆发了一场残酷的战争，仅九个月就造成150万至300万人死亡。战争还导致超过一半的国家人口流离失所，广泛的暴行，以及数十万女性的系统性强奸。随着战争蔓延至印度，其军队加入了孟加拉国的阵营，两周后巴基斯坦战败。1974年，又发生了一次饥荒，造成数十万人死亡，这意味着20世纪70年代是该国历史上最悲惨的时期之一。独立后的孟加拉国在独立的前几十年里，孟加拉国的政治体系特别不稳定，其中两位总统在军事政变中被暗杀。自20世纪90年代过渡到议会民主制以来，情况相对稳定，尽管政治动荡、暴力和腐败仍然是持续的挑战。随着孟加拉国继续现代化和工业化，生活水平提高，个人财富增加。服务业的出现满足了孟加拉国发展中的经济需求，而制造业，尤其是纺织业，仍然强大。近年来，由于生育率下降，自然人口增长率下降，但由于缅甸罗兴亚人的流离失所危机，自2017年以来，已有超过一百万难民涌入该国。2020年，估计孟加拉国人口约为1.65亿。