The country’s poverty rate has decreased to 20% in June this year, according to the latest data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
The poverty in June last year was 21.8%.
The rate of extreme poverty has also decreased from 11.3% to 10.5%.
Planning Minister MA Mannan on Tuesday disclosed the data at a press briefing after a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) at the Planning Ministry at Sher-a-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka.
He said the improved poverty scenario in the country was due to the contribution of laborers and farmers in the country.
According to the BBS survey on the country’s household income and expenditure, the poverty rate in 2000 was 48.9%.
The rate dropped to 40% in 2005 and to 31.5% in 2010, respectively. In 2016 the rate decreased further to 24.3%, according to the BBS.
Although no further survey has been done since 2016, BBS made poverty rate projections for 2017 and 2018, the rates being 23.1% and 21.8% respectively based on the country’s GDP growth.
According to the World Bank, those who earn less than $1.90 daily are not poor.
