Poverty Trends and Growth Performance: Some Issues in Bangladesh

With a low level of per capita income, nearly one of every two persons in Bangladesh is poor, and one of three lives below the income poverty line of $ 1 a day.1 If those who are deprived of adequate clothing or shelter or other basic needs are counted, the number will be considerably higher. Similarly, if the people who live ‘above’ the poverty line but are vulnerable to risks, crisis and socioecononomic shocks and are in constant danger of income erosion below the poverty threshold are considered, the number will be still larger. The poor in Bangladesh differ in economic, social, physical and other characteristics which reflect various deprivations. Such multidimensionality of the poor’s interlocking deprivations suggests that a strategy of increasing income alone may not be adequate for reducing poverty.2 With multi-dimensional characteristics, poverty requires a multi-strategy solution in Bangladesh. The implications of attacking poverty within a broad framework highlight the interactions that exist between income and non-income deprivations. The reduction in income-poverty helps in alleviating non-income poverty through enhanced capacity of the poor to gain access to basic needs.