Bangladesh's poverty declines to 31.5 percent

Bangladesh has reduced poverty levels significantly over the past five years despite global economic shocks and natural calamities. "The national poverty headcount rate in Bangladesh has declined to 31.5 percent in 2010 from 40 percent in 2005," a joint statement of the World Bank and state-run Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) said on Wednesday.
According to the 2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), rural poverty has declined to 35.2 percent in 2010 from 43.8 percent in 2005, while urban poverty has fallen to 21.3 percent from 28.4 percent in the same year.