Decreasing public optimism about country's economy, politics

The Asia Foundation and the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) of Brac University recently conducted a Citizens’ Perception Survey 2024 jointly on governance, development and society.

A total of 6,510 adult men and women, representing all 64 districts, were surveyed between February and March 2024 for a report titled “The State of Bangladesh’s Political Governance, Development and Society: According to its Citizens”, where they shared their perceptions on the country’s social, economic, and political atmosphere, according to a press release.

Of the respondents surveyed, 65 per cent were part of the rural population while 35 per cent were of the urban population. For data collection, 106 respondents were selected from each district. Similar surveys were also conducted in 2022, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2015.

The 2024 survey found a decreasing positive perception of the economy among different income groups. Respondents who earned below BDT 5,000 had the highest decline in positive response. In 2019, 84 per cent of the respondents earning below BDT 5,000 felt that the country was going in the right direction in terms of the economy.

This fell to 42 per cent in 2024. Similarly, the positive response rating fell from 65 per cent in 2019 to 29 per cent in 2024 for respondents earning between BDT 20,000-30,000, and from 58 per cent in 2019 to 33 per cent in 2024 for those earning between BDT 40,000-50,000.

Additionally, 58 per cent of the respondents believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction in terms of politics, society, and economy.

Overall, optimism about the country’s direction has been on the decline since 2017 onwards as respondents who say the country is heading in the wrong direction increased from 17 per cent to 58 per cent in 2024. 52 per cent of the respondents cite price hikes of essential commodities as the most important problem in the country.

Issues such as unemployment (8.0 per cent), corruption (4.0 per cent), and economic/business downturn (4.0 per cent) were also cited as significantly important. Of those surveyed 95 per cent said they were impacted by the price hikes.

When asked about their understanding of democracy, the dominant response was ‘do not know’ (33 per cent of the respondents), which was consistent with the last round survey findings. On the other hand, 20 per cent of the respondents associate equal rights/justice for all and 11 per cent associate freedom of people with democracy.

The survey also reflected that a higher percentage of respondents disagreed with the statement that ‘MPs care about general citizens’. The share of disagreement increased from 35 per cent in 2019 to 47 per cent in 2024.