DHAKA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Poverty rate in Bangladesh fell from 24.3 percent in 2016 to 21.8 percent in 2018, according to the latest data released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) recently.
Meanwhile, the poverty rate, in accordance with the lower poverty line or people living in extreme poverty, shrank to 11.3 percent last year.
BBS Director General Krishna Gain told the state-run news agency that Bangladesh would be able to realize the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 through eradicating poverty.
According to the country's Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2010, the national poverty rate was 31.5 percent while the rural poverty rate was 35.2 percent and the urban poverty rate was 21.3 percent.
The poverty rate went down from 40 percent in 2005 to 24.3 percent in 2016.
In the meantime, the poverty rate in 2016 as per the lower poverty line or people living in extreme poverty declined from 25.1 percent in 2005 to 12.9 percent,
The HIES 2016 showed that the extreme poverty rate came down to 12.9 percent at the national level with highest 14.9 percent at the rural level while the lowest 7.6 percent at the urban level.
As per the HIES 2010, the extreme poverty rate was 17.6 percent at the national level with the highest 21.1 percent at the rural level and the lowest 7.7 percent at the urban level.
The HIES 2016 was completed in a large sample of 2,304 primary sampling units comprising 46,076 households.
The field operation was conducted from April 2016 to March 2017.
Among the key HIES 2016 Survey findings, it was found that the monthly income of the households increased to 15,988 taka in 2016 from 11,479 taka in 2010.
Similarly, monthly household expenditure increased to 15,715 takas in 2016 from 11,200 takas in 2010. (1 U.S. dollar equals to about 84 takas)
