DHAKA — In an effort to curb population growth, the government of Bangladesh will launch a year-long nationwide family planning campaign starting this December.

Sardar Sakhawat Hossain, the country's Minister of Health, announced the initiative during a press conference held in the capital city of Dhaka on the 7th.

Running from December 1 through November 30 of the following year, the campaign will involve direct household visits by health workers to provide contraceptives, medical devices, and professional family planning counseling.

Minister Hossain revealed that the official slogan for the campaign is: "Two children are enough, one is even better."

Rising Fertility and Lower Contraceptive Use

The initiative comes in response to a recent rebound in the country's total fertility rate (TFR), which measures the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime.

Through decades of government population control policies, Bangladesh successfully drove its fertility rate down from 6.3 children per woman in 1975 to 2.3 in 2012. However, periodic surveys conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF showed the TFR holding at 2.3 in 2019, before ticking back up to 2.4 in 2025.

Compounding this trend, the national contraceptive prevalence rate dropped from 62.7% in 2019 to 58.2% in 2025.

Political Turmoil Disrupts Contraceptive Supplies

Health officials attribute the recent population growth rebound directly to the nation's political upheaval.

Government procurement of contraceptives was abruptly halted in July 2024, and the interim administration subsequently suspended key health programs, cutting off the free distribution of birth control supplies.

July 2024 marked the outbreak of massive student-led protests against public service job quotas. Following weeks of violent crackdowns, then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on August 5 and fled to India, where she remains in exile.

In the wake of Hasina's ouster, an interim government took power, followed by a general election in February that resulted in a landslide victory for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the formation of a new government.

Previously, the government had provided approximately 28 types of contraceptives—including condoms and oral pills—to the public free of charge. With the new administration having recently resumed procurement, regular supplies are expected to be fully restored by December.

"Now that supplies are coming back, we need to make sure people know about it," a health ministry official told The Business Standard. "That is why we are launching this nationwide campaign."

The official added, "Recent data shows our population growth rate is higher than anticipated. Many women in rural areas are reluctant to purchase contraceptives from commercial markets if they cannot obtain them for free or at low cost from government health facilities."

According to the international statistics platform Worldometer, Bangladesh’s population currently stands at approximately 178.42 million, making it the 8th most populous nation in the world.

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]