Rural areas led poverty reduction after 2026, as agriculture rebounded and urban manufacturing stalled
Representational image. Photo: TBS
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Representational image. Photo: TBS
The 2025 Poverty and Equity Assessment, released by the World Bank today (25 November), examines Bangladesh’s progress in poverty reduction and inclusive development from 2010 to 2022.
The assessment delivers five key messages:
- Poverty in Bangladesh declined between 2010 and 2022, but the pace of progress slowed after 2016. Over one-third of the population remained vulnerable to falling back into poverty.
- Bangladesh expanded access to electricity, sanitation and education, lifting 34 million from multidimensional poverty. Yet quality deficits – unreliable power, weak learning, slow transport – limit economic and welfare gains.
- After 2016, Bangladesh’s economic growth pattern changed. Rural areas led poverty reduction, as agriculture rebounded and urban manufacturing stalled.
- Bangladesh has expanded social spending, but weak targeting and misdirected subsidies undermine impact.
- Bangladesh has the opportunity to launch a new chapter of poverty reduction, emphasising connectivity, more and better urban jobs, pro-poor value chains in agriculture and social protection against shocks.
