Bangladesh’s Rural Poverty

With a largely agrarian society, many of the people in Bangladesh eke out a meager life as subsistence farmers. It is thought that nearly 115 million of the country’s inhabitants live in this farming lifestyle and estimates state that almost half, or 62 million are thought to be living in rural poverty. Although the land in Bangladesh is very good and many crops can be grown, it is also subject to flooding that occurs on a regular basis and destroys the livelihood of these subsistence farmers. Progress is being made against the poverty in Bangladesh, but there are still some rural areas that are in dire straits.

It is estimated that one in every 5 families in rural areas are not only considered to be rural poverty, but also that they are at extreme poverty levels. This means that they do not own their own land, are largely illiterate, and may have other problems as well. In these cases, there is little chance of upward mobility unless a family is able to acquire land that can be used for subsistence. Even with families that are able to own their land, there is still the rural poverty issue of malnutrition. The diet of those that live in developing countries like Bangladesh and are impoverished is devoid of adequate amounts of protein. The lack of a balanced diet leads to many health problems and diseases.

The main cause of rural poverty in the country of Bangladesh is the fact that the climate is unpredictable and that the lands are mostly flood plains. Each year, subsistence farmers run the risk of losing all of their crops due to flooding. In these cases, the farmers must take loans to survive, often pushing them into heavy debt which will take several years to pay off. In addition, the population growth in the rural areas has made the size of individual land plots much smaller and increased the food needs of the community.