Bangladesh has experienced substantial reductions in both extreme poverty and poverty. The proportion of the population living below the national extreme poverty line has reduced from 50 percent in 1991 to 18 percent in 2010. However, some households escape poverty only to live at a level just above the poverty line. They therefore remain vulnerable to slipping into poverty in the event of a shock or stressor, such as an episode of ill-health or a flood. The specific focus of this report is on “transitory poverty escapes”: a term referring to households that successfully escape from poverty only to return to living in it once again i.e. they become re-impoverished.

Authors: Lucy Scott and Vidya Diwakar