The number of poor people in the country has decreased

Due to various programs taken by the government to alleviate poverty, the rate of poor and destitute people in the country has decreased. The poor population in the country is 18.7 percent. Besides, the poverty rate has decreased to 5.6 percent. According to the statistics of 2016, the poor population in the country was 24.3 percent. That year the poor population was 12.9 percent. As a result, the number of poor people in the country has decreased by 5.6 percent in a span of seven years. At the same time, the poor population decreased by 7.3 percent.

Such information is known from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), a government agency working to determine the poverty rate. After 2016, BBS has not published any related report. The agency released its latest 'Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2016'.

Due to various measures taken by the government to alleviate poverty under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the number of poor and destitute people in the country has further decreased. In 2016, the poor population in the country was 24.3 percent. Which has now reduced to 18.7 percent. Besides, the poor population has decreased from 12.9 percent to 5.6 percent during the same period. It is said that if this trend continues, Bangladesh will be known as a poverty-free country in the world by 2031.

Bureau (BBS)

This information is known from the 'Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2022' of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). The government agency will officially release the final result on Wednesday (April 12). HIES is an independent survey to provide reliable data on poverty, income-expenditure, consumption in Bangladesh. It also provides information on housing, education, health, social security programs, immigration and remittances, etc. For the 2022 survey, data was collected throughout the year. The survey was conducted in 720 sample areas across the country. Data has been collected from a total of 14 thousand 400 houses, 20 from each sample area on the basis of random selection.

However, the economist and former caretaker government's finance adviser claims that there is a dispute about BBS data. AB Mirza Azizul Islam said that the number of poor people in the country is a matter of debate. The government says poverty has been reduced. But SANEM (private research institute South Asian Network on Economic Modeling) says it has increased. At present, inflation has increased. When inflation increases, it intensifies poverty. When the price of daily commodities increases, the purchasing power of the marginalized population decreases. This increases poverty. So the admissibility of the BBS report is in question.

It is known that this survey was conducted in 720 sample areas across the country. Data has been collected from a total of 14 thousand 400 houses, 20 from each sample area on the basis of random selection. There are total 10 sections in the survey question paper. A data collector visits each house 10 times to collect data from these 10 sections.

In the HIES 2022 survey, this data was collected for one year from January 1 to December 31 of that year.