Publication: Bangladesh - Poverty Assessment for Bangladesh : Creating Opportunities and Bridging the East-West Divide
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2008-10-21
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2008-10-21
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Bangladesh represents a success story among developing countries. Poverty incidence, which was as high as 57 percent at the beginning of the 1990s, had declined to 49 percent in 2000. This trend accelerated subsequently, reducing the poverty headcount rate to 40 percent in 2005. The primary contributing factor was robust and stable economic growth along with no worsening of inequality. Respectable GDP growth that started at the beginning of the 1990s continued into the new millennium and averaged above 5 percent annually between 2000 and 2005. Inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient of consumption, remained stable between 2000 and 2005. Recent shocks to the Bangladeshi economy in the form of natural disasters and rising food prices have partially dampened the rapid progress in reducing poverty. The year 2007 saw two natural disasters, floods and a devastating cyclone within a few months of each other. Another significant shock has been the steep rise in food prices, including the main staple, rice, which has revealed the risk posed by global price volatility for a net food-importing country like Bangladesh. Estimates in this report suggest that the impact of the food price shock has likely negated some of the reduction in poverty brought about by economic growth between 2005 and 2008. Specific areas for policy focus which are elaborated in the report include measures to: (i) promote growth by sustaining increases in labor productivity and job creation in manufacturing and services; (ii) expand opportunities in lagging regions by improving connectivity with growth poles and investing in human capital; (iii) facilitate migration from poor areas given the poverty-reducing impact of remittances; (iv) stimulate women's participation in the labor force (v) sustain Bangladesh's past successes in reducing fertility; (vi) improve poor households access to and quality of education, health, and nutrition services; and (vii) strengthen the coordination, targeting, and coverage of safety net programs.
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“World Bank. 2008. Bangladesh - Poverty Assessment for Bangladesh : Creating Opportunities and Bridging the East-West Divide. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6144 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Bangladesh - Poverty Assessment for Bangladesh : Creating Opportunities and Bridging the East-West Divide(Washington, DC, 2008-10)Bangladesh represents a success story among developing countries. Poverty incidence, which was as high as 57 percent at the beginning of the 1990s, had declined to 49 percent in 2000. This trend accelerated subsequently, reducing the poverty headcount rate to 40 percent in 2005. The primary contributing factor was robust and stable economic growth along with no worsening of inequality. Respectable GDP growth that started at the beginning of the 1990s continued into the new millennium and averaged above 5 percent annually between 2000 and 2005. Inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient of consumption, remained stable between 2000 and 2005. Recent shocks to the Bangladeshi economy in the form of natural disasters and rising food prices have partially dampened the rapid progress in reducing poverty. The year 2007 saw two natural disasters, floods and a devastating cyclone within a few months of each other. Another significant shock has been the steep rise in food prices, including the main staple, rice, which has revealed the risk posed by global price volatility for a net food-importing country like Bangladesh. Estimates in this report suggest that the impact of the food price shock has likely negated some of the reduction in poverty brought about by economic growth between 2005 and 2008. Specific areas for policy focus which are elaborated in the report include measures to: (i) promote growth by sustaining increases in labor productivity and job creation in manufacturing and services; (ii) expand opportunities in lagging regions by improving connectivity with growth poles and investing in human capital; (iii) facilitate migration from poor areas given the poverty-reducing impact of remittances; (iv) stimulate women's participation in the labor force (v) sustain Bangladesh's past successes in reducing fertility; (vi) improve poor households access to and quality of education, health, and nutrition services; and (vii) strengthen the coordination, targeting, and coverage of safety net programs.Publication Poverty Assessment for Bangladesh(World Bank, Dhaka, 2008-10)Bangladesh has made good progress in reducing poverty over the past decade despite the series of external shocks which have routinely affected the country. Poverty fell from 49 percent in 2000 to 40 percent in 2005, propelled by respectable economic growth and relatively stable inequality. These statistics are reflected in tangible improvements in poor people's lives, such as a sharp reduction in those living under flimsy straw roofs in rural areas. Unfortunately, climatic shocks such as the 2007 floods and cyclone, as well as rising food prices, have slowed the country's progress in reducing poverty. Despite these setbacks we expect that Bangladesh will reach its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. Poverty reduction is not just about improving household income, but also about enhancing human capability. Our optimism in Bangladesh's future is also based on its significant gains in human development over the past 15 years. 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While poverty incidence remains lower in urban than in rural areas, rural areas have made significant progress and the rural-urban gap in poverty incidence is decreasing.Publication Kosovo : Poverty assessment, Volume 1. Accelerating Inclusive Growth to Reduce Widespread Poverty(Washington, DC, 2007-10-03)Poverty in Kosovo is widespread and has remained persistent in the first half of this decade. The evidence suggests that poverty is higher among those who live in families that are large, have many unemployed members, and have low education levels. The poor are also geographically concentrated in rural areas and a few regions. The main message of this report is that the slow and volatile growth was doubly disadvantageous. The first disadvantage was that it did not enable a significant fraction of the population to earn their way out of poverty. The second disadvantage was that by constraining the government's revenue base, it made it difficult for many families to receive adequate public protection against shocks. Therefore, to improve welfare in the future, the report recommends a focus on generating high and sustainable growth by improving urban services and infrastructure and addressing inequities in the access to secondary and higher education for the poorest population transitioning out of over-reliance on migration, and improving the targeting and expansion of the social assistance program if the revenue base of the government improves over time.
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