At 26.6 per cent, the highest percentage of the country's poor people live in Barishal division, and at 15.2 per cent the lowest poverty rate is in Chattogram division, according to 'Bangladesh Poverty Map 2022' published by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) on Thursday.
The chief guest at the publication ceremony was secretary of the Statistics of Information Management Division Md Mahbub Hossain, chaired by BBS Director General Md Mizanur Rahman while Simon Lawson Parchment, Deputy Chief of the World Food Programme(WFP) was the special guest.
Officials of various ministries, departments, UN and development agencies, development partners, BBS and SID officials, representatives from various universities and research institutes were present.
Officials said that Madaripur district has the highest number of people in the country, at 54.4 per cent, living below the poverty line. On the other hand, Noakhali has the lowest rate at 6.1 per cent.
An upazila-based analysis shows that Dasar in Madaripur is the poorest upazila in the country, with 63.2 per cent of its people living in poverty.
The number of people living below the poverty line is the lowest in Paltan, Dhaka. Only 1 per cent of the population in this area lives below the poverty line.
It reveals the picture of economic inequality in different regions of the country.
Survey showed that 19.1 per cent of people in Kamrangirchar in the capital lives below the poverty line.
The international poverty line determined based on purchasing power parity in 2017 is $2.15 per day. That is, people earning less than $2.15 per day are considered poor.
Dhanmondi is in second place among the areas with the lowest poverty rate in Dhaka - where only 1.5 per cent of people live below the poverty line. Next are Gulshan (3.2 per cent), Mohammadpur (4.6 per cent), Rampura (6.3 per cent), Badda (7.4 per cent), Banani (11.3 per cent) and Mirpur (12.9 per cent).
According to the report, the overall poverty rate in Dhaka district is 19.6 per cent. And the overall poverty rate in the country is 19.2 per cent.
The report reveals a picture of wide economic inequality between the rich and the poor across the country. Various challenges facing the ongoing fight against poverty in the country have also been identified.
The report shows that the poverty rate in rural areas of the country is 20.3 per cent; in urban areas -- 16.5 per cent.
