Between 2010 and 2022, a span of twelve years, Bangladesh managed to lift around 34.9 million people above the poverty line. However, over the past three years, the poverty rate has risen again from 18 per cent to 21 per cent. Today, 36 million people in the country live below the poverty line.

One of the defining realities of our economy is inequality and disparity. According to the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2022, the average under-five mortality rate in the country stands at 31 per 1,000 live births. While there is a gap between wealthy and poor households, among the poorest 20 per cent of families this rate typically remains around 45 to 50 per 1,000.

The second ongoing challenge is the poor quality of basic social services such as health and education. There is no doubt that the education and health sectors have expanded in quantitative terms; however, this expansion has not been accompanied by corresponding improvements in quality. In education, the primary objective has become the acquisition of certificates rather than the attainment of knowledge or skills.

In the health sector, the main focus remains the construction of physical infrastructure, not the delivery of high-quality care. In both sectors, high-quality services are largely reserved for the affluent. This kind of disparity acts as a driving force behind the acceleration of inequality in Bangladeshi society.