As in many developing countries, Poverty in Bangladesh has been a alarming social issue for a significant amount of time. Shortly after its independence, approximately 82% of the population lived under the poverty line.However, since economic reforms and trade liberalization of early 1990’s, along with accelerated economic growth since early-2000’s, Bangladesh have experienced a dramatic progress in reducing poverty. The remarkable progress in poverty alleviation has been recognized by international institutions. According to World Bank, more than 33 million Bangladeshi people have been lifted out of poverty since 2000; Bangladesh’s poverty rate fell from 82% in 1972, to 18.5% in 2010, 13.8% in 2016, 8.3% in 2018, and below 4% in 2020 as measured by the percentage of people living on the equivalent of US$1.90 or less per day in 2011 purchasing price parity terms.

Since early-2000’s, rapid economic growth has fueled a remarkable increase in per-capita income. Bangladesh’s per capita has increased almost threefold between 2010 to 2020, from under $700 to $2,068,moving Bangladesh into the ranks of middle-income economy. At current growth, Bangladesh is projected to enter upper-middle income status by 2041. Based on the current rate of poverty reduction, Bangladesh is projected to eliminate extreme poverty by 2021, the first country in South Asia to do so.