Staff Reporter :
A recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report revealed that 41.7 million people in Bangladesh are living in extreme poverty, with 6.5 percent of them in critical condition.
The report, titled “Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2024: Poverty in Conflict,” was released on Thursday by the UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.
The study, which covered 112 countries, highlights global poverty trends, noting that 1.1 billion people worldwide live in extreme poverty, with almost half residing in conflict-affected regions. South Asia, including Bangladesh, remains one of the hardest-hit areas.
India has the largest number of people living in extreme poverty, affecting 234 million of its 1.4 billion population. It is followed by Pakistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These five countries account for nearly half of the 1.1 billion poor people worldwide.
The report analyzed various dimensions of poverty, including inadequate housing, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, nutrition, and school attendance. According to the MPI, 1.1 billion people globally live in extreme poverty, with almost half of them residing in war-torn countries. More than 83 percent are from African and South Asian nations. In South Asia, around 272 million people live in households where at least one member suffers from malnutrition.
The report further emphasizes that children are the most affected by poverty. Of the 1.1 billion people living in extreme poverty, 584 million are children, accounting for 27.9 percent of the global child population. By contrast, 13.5 percent of the world’s adults live in extreme poverty.
The Global MPI 2024 shows that low living standards contribute the most to overall multidimensional poverty (45.1 percent), followed by deprivations in education (37.6 percent) and health (17.3 percent).
Meanwhile, according to the latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in 2023, 18.7 percent of people in Bangladesh live below the poverty line, with 5.6 percent living in extreme poverty. Based on the latest census, Bangladesh’s population now stands at over 169.8 million, meaning that more than 31.7 million people live in poverty.
KAS Murshid, former Director General of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), commented, “The method used in the UNDP survey to measure poverty in Bangladesh should not be compared to the methods used by the BBS or other agencies in the country.”
He added, “This survey provides a clear picture of the actual poverty situation in the country. In recent years, poverty has worsened due to the dollar crisis and various financial challenges in Bangladesh, and this was reflected in the MPI survey. Now, there is an opportunity to create an action plan based on the real situation.”