Mohammad Mainul Islam

Professor
Department of Population Sciences, University of Dhaka

mainul@du.ac.bd

Field of Study: Demography, Education, Population and Development, Public Health/ Epidemiology, Sociology
 
Specialization: Age and Sex Structure, Ageing, Children and Youth, Economic Demography, Families and Households, Fertility, Historical Demography, Internal Migration, International Migration, Labor force/Employment, Marriage, Divorce and Consensual Unions, Mortality, Health, and Longevity, Policy and Ethics, Population and Development, Population and Environment, Reproductive Health (Family Planning), Social Demography, Urbanization, Vulnerability and Human Rights
 
Regional focus: South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia
 
Education: Doctorate (Ph.D, or MD), Peking University, Demography, 2009
 
Working languages: Bengali
English, Chinese
 
Other association membership in population or related fields: Asian Population Association (APA), Population Association of America (PAA)
Other association membership in population or related fieldsInternational Sociological Association(ISA)
International Epidemiological Association(IEA)
Global Development Network
International Sociological Association (ISA)
Personal web page:
 
Professional Summary:

Dr. Mohammad Mainul Islam is a professor and former Chairman of the Department of Population Sciences at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, with over 24 years of experience in Population and Development, Demography, Sociology, Global Health, and Public Health. He received his PhD in Demography with a specialization in Population Health from Peking University, China. Later, he completed a Global Health Research Capacity Strengthening Program Postdoctoral Fellowship at McGill University, Canada. He contributed to over 92 scientific publications and attended omoremore than than 90 scientific publications and attended more than 300 international and national conferences worldwide. Professor M. M. Islam was recognized as one of the top 2% scientists on Elsevier's and Stanford University's lists in 2025. The Government of Bangladesh appointed him as an Executive Committee member of the National Population Council (NPC) in March 2025. 

 

Publications:

Islam, Mohammad Mainul , and Saifullah Akib (2025).,d Saifullah Akib (2025). Death of Bangladeshi Migrant Workers in the Gulf States: A Situation Analysis, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. ol.48, No. 3-4: Spring/Summer 2025, Villanova University, USA https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970116    

Islam, Mohammad Mainul andSaifullah Akib (2024).Data Challenges to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Bangladesh, Asia Pacific Sustainable Development Journal (APSDJ, Vol. 31, No. 2)https://doi.org/10.18356/26178419-31-2-12 

Mohammad Mainul Islam (2024). Population Dynamics and Demographic Change in Bangladesh: What are the Key Messages? International Journal of Population Issues, February 2024, Vol.1, No.1, https://doi.org/10.36312/ijpi.v1i1.181,  

Mohammad Mainul Islam, MD Yeasir Yunus, Mohammad Saifullah Akib, Rakibul Iqbal, Mohona Khan (2023), ‘Prevalence of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in South Asia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’, Journal of Population and Social Studies (JPSS), Volume 31, 29 March 2023pp. 587–611. http://doi.org/10.25133/JPSSv312023.033

Mohammad Mainul Islam, Md. Anwer Hossain and MD. Yeasir Yunus (2020). Why is the use of contraception so low among the Rohingya displaced population in Bangladesh?https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanwpc/article/PIIS2666-6065(21)00155-3/fulltext

 
Honorary or professional positions and awards:
 
Positions & Honors:

(1) Professor M. M. Islam was recognized as one of the top 2% scientists on Elsevier and Stanford University's list in 2025.

(2) The Government of Bangladesh appointed him to the Executive Committee of the National Population Council (NPC) in March 2025.

(3) Former Chairman, Department of Population Sciences of the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

(4) He was a member of the 'Task Force' to formulate and implement recommendations on the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), SID, and the Ministry of Planning, through discussions on the quality, transparency, and availability of produced statistics.

(5) Chair of the Organizing Committee of the 1st and 2nd National Conference on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) at Workplace, 2018 and 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Awards:

Winner of New Voices in Global Health, one of the 10 winners (the 10 best abstracts published in The Lancet) for the New Voices in Global Health program 2014 & 2012, World Health Summit in Berlin.

GHR-CAPS (Global Health Research Capacity Strengthening Program) Postdoctoral Fellowship, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, May 1, 2013 to October 31, 2014)

Nick Simons Scholar of New Investigators in Global Health (NIGH) 2010 of the Global Health Council (GHC), the 37th Annual International Conference on Global Health: Dateline 2010: Global Health Goals and Metrics, June 14-18, 2010, Washington, DC, USA

First Prize of Academic Excellence Award 2008 of Peking University (in recognition of achievements in academic study from 2005-2008), Beijing, China
Research grants:
1. Strengthening the Capacity of Teaching and Research Facilities at the Department of Population Sciences, University of Dhaka, Second Phase (2017-2022), Funded by the UNFPA and Ministry of Education, Government of Bangladesh

2. Harnessing the Demographic Dividend in Bangladesh through the Experience of China, CCS (Centre for China Studies) and SISS (Shanghai Institutes for International Studies), 2024-2025

3. The partnership between D4I and DPSDU to strengthen capacity for training and applied data analysis on population, family planning, and health, University of North Carolina, 2023-2024

4. Socio-Economic Feasibility Study to Support the Project Titled Scoping of Loss and Damage Case in Bangladesh, Centre for Climate Justice (CCJ), Bangladesh , 2024

5. Landscape Analysis of Community Resilience to Climate Change and Disasters by Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Gaibandha and Satkhira Districts, Pathfinder International, Bangladesh, 2021