MDG Report 2012 - United Nations in Bangladesh

Executive SummaryIt is encouraging to note that Bangladesh has already met several targets of the MDGs likereducing poverty gap ratio, attaining gender parity at primary and secondary education,under-five mortality rate reduction, containing HIV infection with access to antiretroviraldrugs, children under five sleeping under insecticide treated bed nets, detection and cure rateof TB under DOTS and others. In addition, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in theareas of poverty reduction, reducing the prevalence of underweight children, increasingenrolment at primary schools, lowering the infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio,improving immunization coverage and reducing the incidence of communicable diseases.The Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2010 data show that the incidence ofpoverty is declining at a rate of 2.47 percent per year since 1991-92 in Bangladesh. It can besaid that the target of halving the population living below the poverty line is already achievedin 2012.On the other hand, areas in need of greater attention are hunger-poverty reduction andemployment generation, increases in primary school completion and adult literacy rates,creation of decent wage employment for women, increase in the presence of skilled healthprofessionals at delivery, increase in correct and comprehensive knowledge on HIV/AIDS,increase in forest coverage, and coverage of Information and Communication Technology.Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and HungerBangladesh has made commendable progress in respect of eradication of poverty and hunger.It has sustained a GDP growth rate in excess of 6 percent in recent years that has played apositive role in eradicating poverty. The robust growth has been accompanied bycorresponding improvements in several social indicators such as increased life expectancyand lower fertility rate despite having one of the world‟s highest population densities. Theinclusive growth has resulted in impressive poverty reduction from 56.7 percent in 1991-92to 31.5 percent in 2010; the rate of reduction being faster in the present decade than theearlier ones. The latest HIES 2010 data show that the incidence of poverty has declined at anannual rate of 2.47 percent in Bangladesh during 1992-2010 against the MDG target of 2.12percent. Bangladesh has already met one of the indicators of target 1 by bringing down thepoverty gap ratio to 6.5 against 2015 target of 8.0. The estimated figures suggest that theMDG target of halving the population living below the poverty line (from 56.7 percent to29.0 percent) has already been achieved in 2012. Unemployment as well asunderemployment is especially dominant among the young people between 15 to 24 years ofage. This age group comprises nearly 9 percent of the country‟s population and 23 percent ofthe labour force. Moreover, while Bangladesh has demonstrated its capacity for achieving thegoal of poverty reduction within the target timeframe, attaining food security and nutritionalwellbeing still remains a challenge. The challenges with regard to reducing income inequalityand the low economic participation of women also remain as major concerns.14