Poverty in Bangladesh during 2010-2016: Trends, Profile and Drivers

Abstract

This paper uses the latest round of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey to provide an initial assessment of Bangladesh’s poverty trends from 2010 to 2016/17. The paper documents that Bangladesh has made remarkable gains in reducing poverty. However, with almost 1 in 4 people still living in poverty today, the country needs to make further progress. Economic growth has led to gains in welfare, but even though economic growth has accelerated in recent years, it has delivered less poverty reduction. Consumption has grown at a slower rate and has been less equally shared since 2010 than in the prior decade. Welfare differences between the historically poorer West and the rest of the country have re-emerged, as poverty has increased in the North-western division of Rangpur. The decline in urban poverty has also slowed. Slower agricultural growth, combined with slower job creation in manufacturing, could explain why growth has become less poverty reducing over time in Bangladesh.