The poverty rate in Bangladesh has increased from 18.7 percent to 19.2 percent. While the poverty rate in urban areas is 16.5 percent, it is more than 20 percent in rural areas. This information has been revealed in the report titled 'Poverty Map of Bangladesh, 2022' by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
The Poverty Map Release Ceremony was organized at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital yesterday. It was jointly organized by BBS, the World Bank and the World Food Program (WFP).
The poverty map shows that poverty in villages has decreased. In the Household Income and Expenditure Survey, the poverty rate in villages was 20.5 percent, which has decreased to 20.3 percent in the Poverty Map of Bangladesh 2022 survey. On the other hand, poverty in urban areas has increased by 1.8 percent. Earlier, the poverty rate in cities was 14.7 percent, but now it has increased to 16.5 percent.
The poverty rate is highest in Barisal division at 26.6 percent and lowest in Chittagong division at 15.2 percent. The poverty rate in Rangpur is 25 percent. The poverty rate is 16.3 percent in Rajshahi division, 18.5 percent in Sylhet division, 22.6 percent in Mymensingh division, 17.1 percent in Khulna division and 19.6 percent in Dhaka division.
According to the data, poverty has increased in Sylhet, Rangpur, Khulna and Dhaka divisions. Although the poverty rate is higher in Barisal, it has decreased by 0.3 percentage points from the previous 26.9 percent to 26.6 percent.
Dhaka's poverty rate was 17.9 percent in the Household Income and Expenditure Survey, which increased to 19.6 percent in the Poverty Map of Bangladesh 2022 survey.
The poverty map also shows that the poorest upazila in the country is Dasar in Madaripur. The poverty rate here is 63.2 percent. In the 2010 survey, the poverty rate in this upazila was 46.6 percent. The poverty rate in Paltan, Dhaka, is the lowest at 1 percent.
The chief guest at the event was Secretary of the Statistics and Information Management Division Md. Mahbub Hossain. The special guests were Deputy Country Director of the World Food Program Samno Lawson Persiment and Acting Program Leader of the Human Development Department of the World Bank S. Amer Ahmed. The keynote address was presented by Mohiuddin Ahmed, Director General of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Md. Mizanur Rahman, in the chair.
