Population Problem in Bangladesh Essay

Bangladesh is unmatched of the humankinds most densely populated countries with 150 cardinal people, 49 percent of whom pull round below the national beggary line. In addition, child malnutrition rate rates of 48 percent, in condition that is level(p) to the low social status of women in Bangladeshi society. Contents1 cosmopolitan overview of the Bangladesh economy2 Rural and urban destitution3 Causes of rural and urban mendicancy4 Environmental businesss and poverty5 Implications of poverty in Bangladesh6 See also7 ReferencesGeneral overview of the Bangladesh economyIn Bangladesh, there argon many problems like, unforesightful infrastructure, policy-making instability, corruption,and in decent power supplies etc, but the Bangladesh economy has grown 5-6% per year since 1996. However, Bangladesh becalm remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed nation with somewhat 45% of the Bangladeshis being sedulous in the agriculture sector.1 Rural and urban povertyB angladesh is nonpareil of the worlds poorest countries. Bangladesh has to weigh on international help. Since the 1990s, there has been a declining tailor of poverty by 1% each year, with the help of international assistance.2 correspond to World Bank in 2005, 40% of the population was still be below the national poverty line.3The population in Bangladesh is predominantly rural, with most 80% of the population living in the rural field of battles.4 Many of them live in remote areas that lack services such as education, wellness clinics and adequate roads, particularly road links to markets.2 A low adjudicate of 20% of the rural poor is in chronic poverty. They suffer from continual food insecurity, own no land and assets, are often unschooled and may also suffer serious illnesses or disabilities. Another 29% of the rural population is considered moderately poor. Though they may own a small plot of land and some livestock and generally fo beneath enough to eat, their diets lack nutritional values. As a result of wellness problems or natural disasters, they are at endangerment of sliding deeper into poverty. Women are among the poorest of the rural poor, especially when they are the sole heads of their households. They suffer discrimination, piddle effortfully a(prenominal) earning opportunities and their nutritional intake is often inadequate.2In the urban areas, there is about 37% of the urban population living below national poverty line.5 For those living in urban areas, especially the capital Dhaka, and major industrial cities such as Chittagong, Khulna, and Rajshahi, they enjoy a better standard of living, with electricity, gas, and break up water supplies. Despite this, there is still a significant residual of Bangladeshis living in slums that fall apart during the monsoon season and have no regular electricity, limited access to health care and to clean beverage water.6 Causes of rural and urban povertyOne of the main causes of rural poverty is out-of-pocket the rural areas geographical and demographic characteristics. A tumid proportion of the sylvan is low-lying, and thus is at a tall risk to flooding. Many of the rural poor live in areas that are disposed to extreme annual flooding which cause huge damage to their crops, homes and backings. In order to rebuild their homes, they often have to resort to moneylenders, and that causes them to fall deeper into poverty. In addition, these natural disasters also cause outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne and diarrhetic diseases such as dengue and malaria which will excise them physically and overthrow their productivity levels.247Another cause of rural poverty is due to the close growing population rate. It places huge pressure on the environment, causing problems such as erosion and flooding, which in ferment leads to low agricultural productivity.The causes of urban poverty are due to the limited employment opportunities, degraded environment, and severe housing and sanitation. The urban poor hold jobs that are labor demanding, thus affecting their health conditions. Therefore, the urban poor are in a difficult situation to escape poverty.7 Environmental problems and povertyWith 80% of the country situated on the flood plains of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna and those of several(prenominal) other minor rivers, the country is prone to severe flooding.While some flooding is beneficial to agriculture, high levels of flooding have been embed to be a retardant on agricultural growth.8 On average, 16% of household income per year is lost due to flooding, with roughly 89% of the loss in appropriatety and assets. Of these, households engaged in farming and fishing suffer a greater loss sex act to income.9A positive relationship exists amongst flood risk and poverty as measured by household income, with people living under the poverty threshold facing a higher risk of flooding, as measured by their proximity to rivers and f lood depth.9 Property prices also list to be lower the higher the risk of flooding,10 making it to a greater extent promising that someone who lives in a flood-prone area is poor and vice versa, as they might not be able to bear with safer accommodation. Also, they tend to depend solely or largely on crop cultivation and fisheries for their livelihood and thus are harder hit by floods relative to their income.Important to the funds of farmers operating small farms is their self-sufficiency in rice and floods adversely affect this factor, destroying harvests and arable land. Farmers hit are often forced to undertake brainsick land selling11 and in doing so, risk being pushed into or deeper into poverty. In areas hard hit by floods, especially disaster floods such as the 1988 flood, several researchers have arrange that many of the affected households have resorted to selling come to assets such as land and livestock to mitigate losses.1213Also, in an area hard-hit by poverty a nd prone to floods, it was found that many of the poor were opposed to pay for flood protection. The main reason cited had been lack of financial resources although it was found that many of these people are willing to substitute non-financial means of wages such as labour, harvest or part of their land13The above is knotted as it creates a vicious cycle for the poor of Bangladesh. Because the poor may not be able to afford safer housing, they have to live to the highest degree the river which raises their risk of flooding. This would result in greater damage suffered from the floods, driving the poor into selling assets and pushing them further into poverty. They would be further deprived of sufficient resources needed to prevent extensive damage from flooding, resulting in even more flood damage and poverty. It then becomes even harder to escape this cycle. Even those farmers reasonably above the poverty line are but just one bad flood away from the ranks of the poor. Implica tions of poverty in BangladeshThe Gross issue Income (GNI) per capita measured in 2008 prices is a staggering low of US $520 time GNI Purchasing Power Parity per capita is US $1440 (2008).14 This is a dismal cypher when compared to other developed economies. Even though the poverty rate in Bangladesh has been decreasing, it is doing so at a slow rate of less than 2% per year.15 49% of the population still remains below the poverty line. pauperisation matters because it affects many factors of growth education, population growth rates, health of the workforce and in the public eye(predicate) policy. Poverty is most concentrated in the rural areas of Bangladesh, hence creating disparities between the rural and urban areas. However, urban poverty remains a problem too.In particular, poverty has been linked strongly to education and employment. Research paper published by the Bangladesh Institute of Studies (BIDS) have shown that poverty acts as twain a cause and effect of a lac k of education, which in turn adversely affects employment opportunities. Having an unskilled workforce also greatly decreases the productivity of the workforce which decreases the appeal of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and thus impedes sustainable frugal growth. In essence, education is an important contribution to the social and economic increment of a country.Secondly, rising landlessness is also a consequence of poverty in Bangladesh. In the year 2000, among the poorest of the poor the poorest 20 percent of the population four out of five owned less than half an acre of land. Not scarce did many own no acreage at all, but landlessness has been change magnitude in rural Bangladesh along with the number of small and marginal farms.16 The 2000 HIES found nearly half (48 percent) of the countrys rural population to be effectively landless, owning at most 0.05 acres. Roughly three-fifths of all households in the dickens poorest quintiles fell into that category.Lastly, f or the chronic poor, issues such as food security and health hamper social mobility. According to a study done by the World Bank on Dhaka, the poor suffers from a lack of proper healthcare in their areas due to the expensive and poor shade health care services.17 The poverty stricken areas either do not have the available facilities, or can only afford low quality healthcare. This is a problem that is common in both the rural and urban poor. For the urban poor, the problem has worsened as they can only afford to stay in slums where there are problems of overcrowding and unhygienic living conditions. These ii factors results in the spread of diseases amongst the poor whom cannot afford better healthcare. Also, one cannot forswear that a healthy and well-fed citizen is better suited for increased productivity as part of the workforce. Thus, poverty matters because it affects the social welfare of citizens.