The life expectancy of women is higher than men in Bangladesh, according to a new government report.

“The gain in the life expectancy is higher among the females (73.8 years) than that among the males (70.8 years),” said the report on “Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2018”.

The report was unveiled today at the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) auditorium in the capital’s Agargaon area.

According to the report, life expectancy at birth in the country has increased to 72.3 years in 2018 up from 72.0 years in 2017.

The latest report said that the total population of the country as of January 1, 2019, stood at 165.57 million, including 82.87 million males and 82.70 million females.

The crude birth rate (CBR), the simplest measure of fertility, was estimated at 18.3 per thousand population in 2018 as compared to 18.5 in 2017, the report revealed. The CBR fell from 18.9 in 2014 to 18.3 in 2018, demonstrating an average decrease of less than one per cent over the five years since 2014.

The crude death rate (CDR) declined from 5.2 in 2014 to 5.0 in 2018 while the infant mortality rate (IMR) recorded a moderate fall from 24 per thousand live births in 2017 to 22 per thousand live births in 2018.

The neonatal mortality rate fell from 21 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014 to 16 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2018, revealing notable sex differentials in favour of females.

Maternal mortality ratio has shown a consistent fall over the last five years from 1.93 maternal deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014 to 1.69 in 2018, about 12 per cent decline in five years.

Speaking on the occasion, Planning Minister MA Mannan said that the BBS has already attained a level of credibility, adding that global organisations like the IMF and ADB speak highly of the BBS.

He also said that the government has a plan to set up a national statistics institute in the country to train up the statisticians.

PM’s Principal Secretary Md Nojibur Rahman said that due to various steps of the government, the life expectancy at birth is increasing along with the standard of living in the country.