Patterns of population structure and growth in East Pakistan

Abstract

The aspects of population structure refer to the individually carried traits or attributes of a population group, and include such ascribed and non ascribed characteristics as age, sex, marital status, literacy and education, economic activities and related phenomena which are thought to be the principal associates of geodemographic conditions and socio-economic levels of a country. These observations are applied in this study of population of East Pakistan, The study attempts by means of a detailed and exclusive analysis of the available materials to evaluate and elaborate past and present patterns in the different ascribed and non-ascribed characteristics of the population and their growth in socio-economic, cultural and regional contexts, and in quantitative terms. For regional studies, the 17 rural districts and 37 selected urban centres have been taken into consideration in relation to different aspects of population structure. Further, the aspects of population structure are studied individually and regionalized quantitatively by using a multivariate technique, known as Factor Analysis, which incorporates geodemographic and socio-economic variables for the respective residential areas. The results of the quantification present some of the most significant spatial characteristics in this agrarian society with very high density, ethno-cultural and linguistic homogeneity, low urbanization, high and stable fertility, and unbalanced and un-favourable age-sex structures, which have far reaching geodemographic implications in the country. On the other hand, as indicated in the text, the patterns of the population characteristics are closely associated with the framework on which rests the institutional structure of the whole society, and the attitude and outlook of the people who live within it. Many elements of population composition are themselves functions of the form and the mode of operation of existing institutions, i.e. value systems, traditions and norms. The residential variations in this connection only reflect the mode of their institutional differentials. The uniformity in the aspects of population structure within a particular residential or regional unit signifies the institutional exclusiveness or distinctiveness within it, the intra-residential and spatial differences imply the degree of dynamism or change in this exclusiveness - which is more apparent in the urban centres than in the densely populated rural areas. The overall low variability in most elements of population structure, in turn, reflects the slow socio-economic change, and the traditionalism in the geodemographic set-up of East Bengal, Given no significant institutional and attitudinal changes any radical and favorable transformation in the patterns of population structure in the province seems to be rather remote. These aspects of East Pakistan's population are of particular importance in relation to her geodemographic development and planning strategy in relation to the overall socio-economic development of the country.