FOR over four decades, microfinance has been hailed as a revolutionary tool for poverty alleviation. From the villages of Bangladesh to the favelas of Latin America, it promised to transform the unbanked into entrepreneurs and empower women through credit. Yet, as the model has evolved, its soul has been compromised. What began as a humanitarian effort to...
THE latest World Bank report showing that poverty in Bangladesh increased to 21.2 per cent in the 2024鈥�25 fiscal year, up from 20.5 per cent a year ago, is a troubling reminder that the economic recovery remains fragile. The World Bank attributes the poverty rate to a combination of factors, including slow growth, stubbornly high inflation and a weakening labour market...
The World Bank on Tuesday said that poverty had worsened in Bangladesh as the rate climbed to 21.2 per cent in the financial year of 2024-25 from 20.5 per cent in FY20023-24.
THE findings of a multidimensional survey that the finance ministry has funded to assess how families coped with issues of income, employment, expenditure, financial resilience and digital participation in one year since the 2024 uprising are worrying. The poverty rate increased to 27.93 per cent in May 2025, as the survey that research and policy advocacy organisation Power...
The rate of poverty worsened to nearly 28 per cent over the past three years, with food alone now accounting for almost 55 per cent of a household鈥檚 monthly expenditure, according to a survey.
THE interim government鈥檚 efforts to keep the kitchen market stable have not been successful, as prices of essentials continue to rise. The prices of almost all essential food items, including onions, eggs, broiler chickens and vegetables, remained high on August 15 in the capital鈥檚 kitchen markets. Broiler chickens are sold at Tk 170-180 per kilogram at retail markets, which was...
A NUMBER of challenges persist in economic recovery, especially in poverty reduction, employment generation and business environment despite some improvement in the macroeconomic sector in the past year. While it is understandable that the authoritarian and kleptocratic Awami League regime, toppled in a mass uprising in August 2024, left the economy in a shattered...
One in every four persons in the country is poor and approximately 3 crore 98 lakh individuals are suffering multidimensional poverty, according to the Multidimensional Poverty Index released on Thursday in the capital.
Conflicts and related fatalities have more than tripled since the early 2000s, fuelling extreme poverty, the World Bank said Friday.
THE challenge of addressing extreme poverty is both urgent and complex. While Bangladesh has made significant strides in poverty reduction since the 1990s, recent economic headwinds, including persistent inflation, global commodity price fluctuations, and post-pandemic recovery pressures, have exposed vulnerabilities of millions living just above or below...
A couple from Ashuganj upazila of Brahmanbaria committed suicide on Sunday night due to poverty.
FOR over a decade, the government under Sheikh Hasina has presided over the steady erosion of Bangladesh鈥檚 education system. An overreliance on rote learning, at the expense of critical thinking and problem-solving skills, has left students ill-equipped for real-world challenges. The exam-oriented culture, fixated on standardised testing, offers little room for...
NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisations, once defined by a spirit of solidarity and service, are undergoing a quiet transformation. What began as a sector rooted in volunteerism and rights-based development is now becoming increasingly entangled in financial markets. Many NGOs, particularly in the Global South, are shifting from grant-based programming to...
An ongoing inquiry has found that early marriage and early employment due to poverty and social insecurity have barred an exceptionally large number of students from appearing in this year鈥檚 Secondary School Certificate examinations.
A PERSISTENT high rate of child poverty and a widening gap between child poverty rates between rural and urban areas and different parts of the country are concerning. A General Economics Division study, The urban-rural dichotomy: a comparative analysis of child poverty in Bangladesh, says that the national average child poverty rate is 16.49 per cent, with an...
The national child poverty rate is 16.49 per cent with a significantly higher rate in the rural areas, according to a General Economics Division study...
GOVERNMENTS are spending more on social safety nets than ever before, and yet, the struggle against urban poverty feels like it is stuck in the mud. The paradox is hard to ignore: funding goes up, but the poorest people in our cities keep falling through the cracks. The reason? The very laws meant to support them weren鈥檛 built for the urban world they live in now...
AN INCREASE in the number poor households, to 26.43 per cent in 2024 from 24.73 per cent in 2022, against the backdrop of persistent inflationary pressure, which has added to food insecurity, natural disasters and other artificial factors, shows that the poor and low-income people are left to struggle, warranting early government steps. Whilst this has been the case with...
The proportion of poor households has increased in the country against the backdrop of persistent inflationary pressures along with the natural and human-made factors, according to a study.
Musicians, researchers and speakers said at a discussion on Saturday that they needed to overcome poverty by promoting different genres of music...
Religious affairs adviser Professor AFM Khalid Hossain has said that Sharia banking plays an important role in poverty alleviation and ensuring income inequality...
The Paltan Thana area in the capital has emerged as the least poverty spot in the country with only one per cent population in the central area in Dhaka live below the poverty line of $2.25 per day, equivalent to TK 262.
Migrant workers are one of the pillars of the economy of Bangladesh, which is one of the world鈥檚 largest sources of migrant labour. Millions of Bangladeshis work in different parts of the world, including the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and America. Their remittances enrich the foreign exchange reserve and pull many families out of..
THIS is highly worrying that inflation, especially food inflation, has pushed about 10 per cent of the population, 1.78 crore people, either into poverty or at risk of poverty in 2022鈥�2024. A Research and Policy Integration for Development study has also identified that the segment of people living in extreme poverty has increased from 5.65 per cent in 2022 to 7.95 per cent in...
The erosion of purchasing power caused by high inflation between 2022 and 2024 has significantly deepened poverty and vulnerability, driving an additional 1.78 crore people in the country into poverty or at risk of poverty, according to a study...
The introduction of a partial universal basic income programme at the national level could reduce poverty by 6.13 per cent, with rural areas benefiting the most with an 8.14-per cent poverty reduction, compared with a 1.85-per cent decrease in urban areas, according to a study...
The poverty rate across the Palestinian territories will almost double this year to 74.3 per cent after months of fighting in Gaza, according to a report by the UN Development Programme released Tuesday.
AS BANGLADESH approaches its anticipated graduation from the least developed country status category in 2026, it faces formidable challenge of sustaining its economic achievements...
FOR several decades, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced the fastest reduction of working poverty and rise of labour incomes worldwide. After the heavy toll inflicted by the...
Rights activists at a dialogue on Wednesday called on the government to expand its social safety net programmes to reduce extreme poverty and vulnerability of the marginalised people...
