Living cost doubled in 6-yrs

Income also doubled by Tk 32,422 monthly

Staff Correspondent: The average monthly expenditure of a householder (family) in the country is Tk 31,500. In 2016 which was Tk 15,715. As such, the cost has doubled in the span of only 6 years.
In the span of six years, the economic capacity of the people of the country has increased. Currently (in the survey of 2022) the monthly average income of a household (family) has increased to Tk 32,422. In 2016 which was Tk 15,988. As a result, people’s income has doubled in a span of 6 years. However, along with income, expenses have also increased.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), a government agency working to determine the poverty rate, has released such data. The report was released in the BBS Auditorium yesterday. Planning Minister MA Mannan, State Minister Dr. Shamsul Alam and related officials were present at this time.
Due to various programs taken by the government to alleviate poverty, the rate of poor and destitute people in the country has decreased. The poor population in the country is 18.7 percent. Besides, the poverty rate has decreased to 5.6 percent. According to the statistics of 2016, the poor population in the country was 24.3 percent. That year the poor population was 12.9 percent. As a result, the number of poor people in the country has decreased by 5.6 percent in a span of six years. At the same time, the poor population decreased by 7.3 percent.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the poverty rate is 20.5 percent in rural areas and 14.7 percent in urban areas. After 2016, BBS has not published any related report. The agency released its latest ‘Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2016’.
The survey was conducted in 720 sample areas across the country. Data has been collected from a total of 14,400 houses, 20 from each sample area on the basis of random selection. There was total 10 sections in the survey questionnaire. A data collector visits each house 10 times to collect data from these 10 sections.
The Hayes 2022 survey started from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022, i.e. data was collected for one year.
According to BBS, in 2010 the cost per family was only Tk 11,200. At the same time the income was Tk 11,200. As a result, as income increased over a period of time, expenditure also increased.