According to the Population and Housing Census 2022, currently, 65.6% of the population of Bangladesh is of working age, that is, aged between 15 to 64. Moreover, the percentage of the dependent population (0-14 years and 65-year old and above) has declined considerably from 73 in 2011 to 52.64 in 2022. Hence, Bangladesh is going through a demographic dividend -- a peak in working-age people. With effective investment and proper utilization of resources, such a density of the working age population within the country can translate to a sustainable economic growth.
Moreover, now as the country is moving forward towards the vision of building a Smart Bangladesh by 2041, this young population carries the responsibility to lead the way. Through a greater focus on growth-enhancing activities and making the population even more “digitally able,” the labour force holds the ability to march the country towards the 2041 vision.
But, how far have we really gone in this regard? Is the demographic dividend being efficiently utilized?
This has come as a golden opportunity for Bangladesh to accelerate economic growth like never before, taking the nation closer to the 2041 vision. Increased public spending on early education and a focus on enhancing work flexibility can go a long way in equipping the young population of today with necessary knowledge and skills.
However, more is needed -- and that is, an increased focus on making the young generation more familiarized with technology. The Smart Bangladesh 2041 vision, as stated by a2i, is about more than a futuristic Bangladesh. It is not only about 5G internet, or 100% smartphone penetration, or 100% high-speed internet penetration, or going cashless. Smart Bangladesh is about being inclusive; it is about the citizens of Bangladesh.
This 2041 vision is built upon the four pillars of Smart Citizens, Smart Government, Smart Economy, and Smart Society, and is about bridging the digital divide by innovating and scaling sustainable digital solutions that all citizens, regardless of their socio-economic background, all businesses, regardless of their size, can benefit from. On the other hand, three important aspects of Smart Bangladesh include a knowledge-based economy, an innovative nation and an inclusive digital society.
Hence, keeping the current demographic dividend in mind, now is the time to take action. In Smart Bangladesh, labor will be smart. Everyone will be able to complete all tasks online, and the economy will be e-economy, while financial management will also become digitized. As the honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina mentioned, education, health, and employability in Bangladesh will all be through e-governance as digital devices will be used for everything; including e-education, and e-health.
However, there are still a number of major issues to tackle.
The internet, the very driver of this revolution, is not yet affordable, while internet speed is not up to the mark. Bangladesh ranked 125th in the world for mobile internet speeds out of 139 countries in September 2022, according to Ookla, a global platform that generates internet speed reports across the globe. Not only is this hindering the daily lives of people, but is also creating systematic disturbances on mass levels, across industries. On the other hand, as participants reported encountering several issues while obtaining e-documents, e-passports, machine-readable passports, and e-trade licenses, among others, many such services are no longer available, according to an assessment of 67 particular digital services by the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU).
Then comes the existing digital divide in the country, acting as a major roadblock on the way to Smart Bangladesh. The digital divide is the gap that exists in terms of the availability and accessibility of information through ICT among the urban and rural users across the country. With servers going down frequently, this gap of inequality keeps widening. Not only does it hamper quality of life, but also hampers productivity, education and access to information of all kinds. Consequently, the rural youth remain void of the digital transformation necessary for the country to move forward.
Internet accessibility comes in as a prerequisite to building a smart nation. According to the primary data of the Population and Housing Census 2022, currently 55.89% of Bangladeshis use mobile phones, while 30.68% of the total population use the internet. Although it depicts an increase from the previous years, higher figures are necessary for the realization of Smart Bangladesh 2041, through smart, digitally-able citizens. Tackling such problems needs an added focus on the first pillar of Smart Bangladesh 2041, and that is, “Smart Citizens.”
To achieve that, special emphasis must be put on making the people of the country, especially the youth, digitally smart. In that case, increased accessibility to smartphones and IoT products is the way forward, as smartphones are fundamental to expanding internet use. Besides, smartphones are now a prerequisite for conducting a number of day-to-day activities. Hence, in the futuristic smart cities of a Smart Bangladesh, increased smartphone dependency is likely to be unavoidable.
As more people begin using smartphones and other smart devices, the use of technology in Bangladesh must increase manifold; preparing the youth up as the soldiers of Smart Bangladesh.
In addition to a number of substantial actions taken on policy levels, the road to Smart Bangladesh requires the present generation to be more comfortable with the evolving technology. Owing to the existing demographic dividend within the country, now is the time to take action -- not only as policy makers but simply as citizens of the country.
Bangladesh has successfully achieved its dream of Digital Bangladesh in due time, and now, it's time for Smart Bangladesh 2041. Capitalizing on the demographic dividend, innovative and creative ideas stemming from the minds of Bangladeshi youth should carry the 2041 dream forward, towards a knowledge-based economy.
However, action must be taken now, both by the industry stakeholders and the ordinary citizens (to be more digitally literate) because time is running out.
Darren Zhang is Branding Director, realme Bangladesh.
