A disquieting regional disparity in wealth distribution poses a challenge to poverty-reduction recipe as Bangladesh's poverty map shows a yawning gap between higher and lower hunger rates in districts.
It depicts stark gaps in economic advances across the country, with the poverty rate in Noakhali district recording at only 6.1 per cent against the worst scenario in Madaripur with the rate registering here at 54.4 per cent.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) unveiled the 'Poverty Map of Bangladesh 2022' Thursday with analysis of the micro-and mega-data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2022. The HIES findings were released in December 2023.
The mapping on the narrow areas shows Paltan thana in the capital having emerged as one of the affluent areas with only 1.0 per cent of residents living below the poverty line as compared to the poorest area of Dasar upazila in Madaripur district with a frustrating figure of 63.2-percent population living below the upper poverty line.
The map sketches out significant gaps between the affluent and impoverished regions, shedding light on ongoing challenges facing the country's fight against poverty and stressing the urgency of economic policy for redistribution of national wealth.
According to the official poverty map, the Barishal division entered into the red zone with its highest rate of poverty, slipping below the previous red-zone division Rangpur, while Dhaka's improvement in the hunger index was remarkable.
The rate of poverty in Barishal division recorded 32.1 per cent in 2022, deteriorating from 26.49 per cent in the 2016 mapping.
The hunger rate in Rangpur division was highest at 47.23 per cent in the 'Poverty Map 2016', but improved a lot to register 28.5 per cent in the latest mapping.
Among the districts, Narsingdi is the second-worst poverty-hit area with the rate recorded at 43.7 per cent.
Pirojpur placed in the 3rd position with 37.9-percent hunger rate while Kishoreganj in the 4th position with 35.3 per cent, and Chapainawabganj 5th with 34.7 per cent.
On the other hand, after Noakhali, Dhaka district performed well in reducing poverty as the hunger rate here is only 8.6 per cent.
Khulna has the 3rd-lowest poverty rate (10.2 per cent), followed by Feni (10.5 per cent), Munshiganj (11.3 per cent), and Chattogram (12 per cent).
The report indicates that Paltan, located in the heart of Dhaka city, is home to the wealthiest individuals in the country, with only 1.0 per cent of the population living below the poverty line.
In contrast, the poorest residents live in Kamrangirchar on the fringes of the capital city, where 19.1 per cent of the population lives in poverty.
Other notable areas in Dhaka include Adabar (9.8 per cent) Badda (7.4 per cent), Banani (11.3 per cent), Dhanmondi (1.5 per cent), Gulshan (3.2 per cent), Mirpur (12.9 per cent), Mohammadpur (4.6 per cent), and Rampura (6.3 per cent) among others.
The district of Dhaka has an overall poverty rate of 19.6 per cent, while the national poverty rate stands at 20.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's rural areas experience a higher hunger rate at 20.3 per cent, while urban poverty is 16.5 per cent.
On a regional scale, the report reveals that the Barishal division has the highest poverty rate in the country at 26.6 per cent, while Chittagong has the lowest at 15.2 per cent.
Among others, Khulna division's poverty rate is recorded at 18.2 per cent, Mymensingh division 29.5 per cent, Rajshahi division 20.5 per cent, Rangpur division 28.5 per cent, and Sylhet division 21.3 per cent, the poverty map 2022 showed.
The report highlights continued economic challenges faced by many in the country as well as the stark contrasts between the wealthy and impoverished areas in the capital and throughout the country.
After the event on Thursday, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Research Director Dr Mohammad Yunus told journalists that there is huge regional disparity in Bangladesh.
"If the government's different social safety-net programmes like cash transfer are not distributed properly to the target people, alleviation of poverty as well as easing the regional disparity would be difficult," says the development researcher.
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