Bangladesh’s poverty rate reduced to 24.3% at the end of the last year from 31.55% in previous years, according to a survey report.
The report of the survey styled “Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2016” was released on Tuesday at an event at the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics auditorium in Dhaka.
Addressing the event, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal claimed that the extreme poverty rate of Bangladesh was better than that of the US’ richest state, California.
California’s extreme poverty rate is 16%, while that of Bangladesh was measured at 12.9% in 2016 and 17.6% in 2010.
The minister also said Bangladesh is gradually experiencing a shift in the people food habit from rice towards other food items.
World Bank Dhaka Office’s lead economist Zahid Hussain said that though the poverty rate is dropping in Bangladesh, there is a bad news that the pace of poverty reduction is too slow compared with the period 2005-2010.
Also, the national Gini co-efficient shows a negative trend in income and wealth distribution, he said. According to the survey, the Gini co-efficient now stands at 0.483, while it stood at 0.458 in 2010.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
