In the early 1990s, one in two Bangladeshis lived on less than $3.00 a day — the World Bank’s international line for extreme poverty, measured in 2021 prices. By the 2022 Household Income and Expenditure Survey, the share had fallen to 5.9%.
51% → 6%
Share of Bangladeshis living on under $3.00 a day, 1991 to 2022.
By Bangladesh’s own, higher national poverty line, 18.7% of people were still poor in 2022. Escaping extreme poverty is not the same as escaping poverty: millions of households sit just above the line, where a flood, an illness or a lost job can push them back below it.
Sources: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform and BBS Household Income and Expenditure Surveys, via World Bank WDI (SI.POV.DDAY, SI.POV.NAHC).