Bangladesh sees reduction in poverty despite pandemic, Ukraine war: BBS

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global recession brought on by the Ukraine war, Bangladesh’s poverty rate has decreased.

The current upper poverty rate in the country has fallen to 18.7 per cent in 2022 from 24.3 per cent in 2016, according to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2022 released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

The lower poverty rate, which means extreme poverty, has also fallen to 5.6 per cent in 2022 from 12.9 per cent in the 2016 survey.

BBS Director Mohiuddin Ahmed discussed highlights from the study at an event at the bureau’s headquarters in Dhaka’s Agargaon on Wednesday.

Planning Minister MA Mannan was the chief guest at the event, and State Minister Shamsul Alam was the special guest.