Bangladesh Poverty Maps 2010, developed in a joint exercise by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the World Bank, and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), were released on August 27. This is the third generation of poverty maps in Bangladesh, based on “data from both the 2010 Household Income & Expenditure Survey (HIES) as well as the 2011 Population Census.” Two other such mapping exercises were carried out earlier “using data from (i) the 2000 HIES and 2001 Population Census and (ii) the 2005 HIES and the 2001 Population Census.”
The 2010 HIES has shown that at the national level, Rangpur division has the highest incidences of poverty and extreme poverty, at 42.3% and 27.7% respectively. It is followed by Barisal division, which has the incidences of poverty and extreme poverty at 39.4% and 26.7% respectively. On the other hand, Chittagong division has the lowest incidences of poverty and extreme poverty, at 26.2% and 13.1% respectively. It is followed by Sylhet division with incidences of poverty and extreme poverty at 28.1% and 20.7% respectively. This is against the 2010 HIES estimated incidences of poverty and extreme poverty, which were at 31.5% and 17.6% respectively.
The 2010 HIES calculated the incidence of poverty on the basis of the upper poverty line, while it calculated the incidence of extreme poverty on the basis of the lower poverty line. It should be mentioned that, according to the 2010 HIES, the upper poverty line corresponds to the moderate poor households whose food expenditure is at the level of the food poverty line using the cost of basic needs (CBN) method. On the other hand, the lower poverty line corresponds to the extreme poor households whose total expenditures are equal to the food poverty line using the CBN method.
The latest poverty maps have some distinguishing features: They “provide disaggregated poverty estimates to better understand the geographical variations in poverty incidence.” They show the incidence of poverty and the incidence of extreme poverty separately in each zila (district) and upazila (sub-district) of the country. The district of Kurigram, under Rangpur division, has the highest incidence of poverty (63.7%). It has also the highest incidence of extreme poverty (44.3%). The district of Kurigram is followed by the district of Barisal. Its incidences of poverty and extreme poverty stand at 54.8% and 39.9% respectively.
Of all the upazilas in the country, Char Rajibpur upazila, under Kurigram district, has the highest incidence of poverty at 68.8%. It is followed by Fulbari upazila, which is under the same district, with incidence of poverty at 68.5%. On the other hand, Hizla upazila, under Barisal district, has the highest incidence of extreme poverty at 49.5%.
The mapping exercises compare poverty maps with those of social and other indicators that are correlated with poverty. The document on mapping exercises says that the maps contrast poverty rates with average agricultural wages and illustrate the negative association between these two variables. The maps also compare poverty rates with the educational attainment of household heads.
As the maps show, districts in northern and southern Bangladesh, whose poverty rates are high, also suffer from low primary school completion. Similarly, poverty appears to be high in chronic disaster-prone areas, such as the districts along the Jamuna River, where communities are repeatedly affected by river erosion and flooding, and in the southwest, which is prone to cyclones, tidal surges, salt water intrusion, and water-logging.
Now, the question which arises is: What follows the poverty mapping exercises?
As the document says, poverty mapping is a statistical exercise to estimate the incidence of poverty at sub-national levels to enable the government, civil society organisations, and development partners to accurately identify locations with a relatively higher concentration of poor people. The maps may provide inputs for the Seventh Five Year Plan document.
What the government should do now is undertake surveys in the identified poorer areas to find out the factors that are primarily responsible for incidences of poverty and extreme poverty in such areas. For instance, the people of Rangpur division, which has the highest incidences of poverty and extreme poverty, have been historically dependent on agriculture. Available data show that even in the ancient and medieval periods, the economic conditions of the people of Rangpur region was very deplorable due to very low prices of agricultural products.
The region suffers from a high rate of unemployment resulting from low levels of industrialisation. It needs no repetition that unemployment and poverty are two sides of the same coin. Rapid industrialisation will help increase employment opportunities, raise per capita income, and reduce incidence of poverty in the region.
The higher incidences of poverty in the southwestern districts, which are affected by cyclones, tidal surges, salt water intrusion, and water-logging, may be reduced considerably through the establishment of appropriate industries and development of service sectors. Southern and western Bangladesh are also victims of global warming and climate change, which lead to natural disasters like cyclones and tidal surges and causes loss of life and property. Consequently, non-poor people are becoming poor and poor people are becoming poorer. Appropriate mitigational measures have to be taken to fight the devastating effects of global warming and climate change to arrest further increase in the incidences of poverty.
To conclude, the latest poverty-mapping exercises have brought into focus the incidences of poverty and extreme poverty at sub-national levels, particularly at zila and upazila levels. Let this be an eye-opener for the government to give the utmost attention to the areas that have higher incidences of poverty and extreme poverty. This is required for the balanced and sustainable development of the country.