NOVEMBER 28, 2020

SUBMITTED TO:
MUSAMMAT MEHZABIN
LECTURER
DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES
KHULNA UNIVERSITY OF
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
SUBMITTED BY:
NAME: MD. SAKIBUL HASSAN SAKIB
ROLL: 1805046
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING,
KHULNA UNIVERSITY OF
ENGINEERING AND
TECHNOLOGY,KHULNA
Poverty is a man made curse,not God,for not sharing what we have

As in many developing countries, poverty in Bangladesh has been an alarming social issue for a
significant amount of time. Shortly after its independence, approximately 90% of the population
lived under the poverty line. However, since economic reforms and trade liberalization of early
1990s, along with accelerated economic growth since early-2000s, Bangladesh have experienced
a dramatic progress in reducing poverty. The remarkable progress in poverty alleviation has been
recognized by international institutions. According to World Bank, more than 33 million
Bangladeshi people have been lifted out of poverty since 2000; as measured by the percentage of
people living on the equivalent of US$1.90 or less per day in 2011 purchasing price parity terms.
Since early-2000s, rapid economic growth has fueled a remarkable increase in per-capita income.
Bangladesh's per capita has increased almost threefold between 2010 and 2020, from under $700
to $2,068, moving Bangladesh into the ranks of middle-income economy. At current growth,
Bangladesh is projected to enter upper-middle income status by 2041. Based on the current rate
of poverty reduction, Bangladesh is projected to eliminate extreme poverty by 2021, the first
country in South Asia to do so.

Bangladesh belongs to the poorest group of countries in the world; during the last 3 decades its

GDP per capita income barely increased from US$203 in 1975 to US$348 per capita in 1998.

The World Bank's World Development Indicators puts Bangladesh in 170th place (out of 207

countries) in the global ranking of gross national income per capita. Despite considerable

international assistance, Bangladesh has been unable to eliminate extreme poverty and hunger.

There is a huge disparity between standards of living in urban and rural areas of the country. The

urban areas, especially the capital Dhaka, and major industrial cities such as Chittagong, Khulna
and enjoy a better quality of living, with electricity, gas, and clean water supplies. Still,

even in the major cities a significant proportion of Bangladeshis live in squalor in dwellings that

fall apart during the monsoon season and have no regular electricity. These Bangladeshis have

limited access to healthcare and to clean drinking water. The rural population, meanwhile, often

lives in traditional houses in villages with no facilities associated with even the most modest
standards of living. Education is another problem, as the adult literacy rate reached just 60
percent in 2000, despite

the fact that primary education is universal, compulsory and free. The illiterate section of the

population is generally much poorer as they are missing employment opportunities in the

industrial sector as well as government and international assistance in form of micro-credits, and

awareness of better cultivation methods and other market skills. Also, women in Bangladesh,

especially those with large families, have heavier workloads and often fewer skills than the male

population; the illiteracy rate is much higher among women than men. These differences may be

seen in the statistical data. The wealthiest 20 percent of Bangladeshis control 42.8 percent of the

wealth. The poorest 20 percent of the population control only 3.9 percent of the wealth.

Given that Bangladesh continued to urbanize during this time, there are now more people living
in extreme poverty in urban Bangladesh (3.3 million) than in 2010 (3 million).[14] Since
independence the average rate of urbanization in Bangladesh is 5% (World Bank 2012) &
percentage share of urban population has doubled, from 15% in 1974 to 28.4% in 2011.
Throughout the 1990s the Bangladeshi government achieved some positive results, although the

1998 floods put pressure on scarce government resources, brought hunger to some areas of the

country, and made food prices higher. These difficulties particularly affected the most vulnerable

social groups of society, both in rural areas and in major urban centers. The chronic poverty,

under-employment and unemployment forced large numbers of people to migrate from the

country, using all possible legal and illegal channels. Bangladesh's quality of life remains much

lower than in neighboring India, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka. According to the CIA World Factbook,

in 1996 around 35.6 percent of the population lived below the poverty line, most of them in rural

areas of the country .Bangladesh‘s economy is growing but so too is inequality .While the

economy recorded 8 percent growth last year, one in five people live below the poverty line and

the average wage is less than $5 a day.

This year’s Nobel Prize for Economics has gone to Abhijit Banerjee and Esther both MIT

professors, and Professor Michael Kremer of Harvard University, for their “experimental

approach to alleviating global poverty”. Parts of their work focused on some poverty reduction

programmes in Bangladesh. Coincidentally, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced

the award on October 14, three days before the world marks the International Day for the

Eradication of Poverty on October 17. With the UN deadline for achieving the Sustainable

Development Goals only 11 years away, what is the poverty scenario in Bangladesh?

Higher growth often accelerates the process of poverty reduction. Riding on its steady economic

growth, especially since the 1990s, Bangladesh has fought poverty hard and well, bringing down

the poverty level from 59 percent in 1991 to 25 percent in 2016, according to the data of

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). During the same period, extreme poverty fell to 13
percent from 43 percent, which is quite an achievement.

Behind this rosy picture, however, lies a sorry state: Bangladesh is still home to around 40

million poor and 21 million extreme poor according to 2016 data from BBS (HIES 2016).

Globally, one in every eleven people are poor, according to 2013 data released by the World

Bank in 2016.

Although Bangladesh’s success in overall poverty reduction has earned the country global praise

and recognition, there are certain pockets, such as northern districts, coastal belt and haor

regions, where poverty still remains deep. While the poverty incidence in some areas remained

the same, it has reversed in certain other pockets.

Poverty, often likened to chronic diseases, is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. And to address

the multi-dimensional aspects of poverty, any poverty reduction programs or projects should

be context-specific, need-based and demand-driven. Inclusive growth will remain a far cry if we

do not give special attention to lifting the extreme poor living in areas with higher poverty rate.

As a result, for sustainable poverty reduction, a one-size-fits-all strategy will not work, at least

not in the long run for sure. If we are to achieve Goal-1 of the Sustainable Development Goals,

that is to eliminate poverty by 2030, we will have to devise need-based holistic programs and

ensure focused targeting. We will also have to multiply our efforts and resources
When the Awami League government assumed office in 2009, around 5 crore people were poor

out of which 2.88 crore fell in the extreme poverty bracket. During the previous term of the

present government (2009-14), although population growth rate was 1.16% on an average, the

number of poor and extreme poor came down to 3.85 crore and 1.57 crore, respectively. 45% of

the extreme poor were pulled out of their condition during the past five years, according to senior

Bangladesh government sources.

The country is now the 44th largest world economy in nominal terms of GDP, and 33rd largest in

terms of purchasing power parity. It is classified among the 11 next emerging countries and a

frontier market. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bangladesh’s economy

was the second fastest growing economy in 2016 with a 7.1% growth rate.
References:

1. https://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Asia-and-the-Pacific/Bangladesh-POV

ERTY-AND-WEALTH.html

2. https://www.aljazeera.com/videos/2020/01/26/bangladesh-one-in-five-people-live-
belowpoverty-line/

3. https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/news/poverty-bangladesh-where-focus-and-how-18

15082

4. https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2018/11/15/bangladesh-reducing-poverty-and-shar

ing-prosperity

5. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/at-current-pace-ban