Bangladesh is on track to halve poverty levels by 2015 after significant progress over the past decade despite a series of external shocks, the World Bank said on Sunday. Nearly 40 percent of Bangladesh's over 140 million people live on less than $1 a day and spend 70 percent of their income on food.
Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) has grown on average more than 6 percent annually over the last few years and has been forecast to maintain the same level in the fiscal year to June 2009, officials said.
If current growth rates are maintained, along with stable inequality and a continued reduction in fertility, Bangladesh will achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people living in poverty by 2015, the World Bank said in a report.
Rapid growth in international remittances helped to reduce poverty but the western part of the country lagged the eastern part, the report said. Remittance from more than 5 million Bangladeshis working overseas hit $7.91 billion in the year to June 2008, nearly a third more than the previous year, and are likely to hit $10 billion over the next year.