RURAL BANGLADESH - PreventionWeb

Socioeconomic Profiles of WFP Operational Areas and Beneficiaries
the household. In contrast, male-headed households blamed income losses on a variety of
factors, including market failure (45 percent), loss of employment (33 percent), asset losses
(31 percent), and exposure to shocks (26 percent), in addition to prolonged illness within the
household (51 percent). Female-headed households tend to lack sufficient sources of income
or income earners, severely limiting livelihood options and income earning opportunities.
Table 47: Reasons for Declining Incomes by Sex of Household Head
Loss of employment
Loss of crop/animal
Prolonged illness
Death of income earner
Decrease in income from remittances
Loss of asset
Exposure to shocks
Market failure
Other
Percentages and totals are based on respondents.
% within Zone Code
Reasons for Decrease in Income Over the Last Three Years
(multiple answers)
Table 48: Changing Incomes by WFP Priority Zones
Increased significantly
Increased slightly
Stayed about the same
Decreased slightly
Decreased significantly
N
Change in Income Over the Last Three Years
82
Zone Code
Sex of household head
Female Male
14.4% 33.1%
8.9% 11.3%
41.7% 50.9%
93.1% 7.6%
8.1% 1.1%
18.0% 31.4%
3.4% 26.2%
22.3% 44.5%
23.0% 30.3%
CHT Costal Drought N/W Char Haor Total
2.0% 1.1% 3.8% 6.1% 1.6% 2.0% 3.2%
19.9% 17.9% 29.0% 21.7% 24.3% 18.7% 22.9%
52.0% 60.3% 50.5% 48.4% 40.5% 59.7% 49.8%
15.8% 12.2% 12.2% 14.5% 24.8% 14.2% 16.7%
10.3% 8.4% 4.5% 9.3% 8.8% 5.4% 7.4%
448 441 442 442 444 444 2661
In addition to inquiring about perceived household income trends, the assessment team asked
households to analyse their perceived current poverty status relative to 10 years ago. Table
49 indicates that approximately two-thirds (65 percent) of the households perceive
themselves to be poor today, including 46 percent of the sample households who perceive no
change in their poverty status over the past decade and about one-fifth (19 percent) of the
households who believe that they have descended into poverty during the course of the past
decade. On the other hand, nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of all households think that they
have successfully escaped from poverty during the last 10 years. Most households remain
unconvinced that poverty has eluded them; it is somewhat encouraging however, that
slightly more households (23 percent as opposed to 19 percent) perceive improved trends in
recent years.