The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) survey report revealed that the overall poverty rate decreased by 4.3% in Dhaka City between 2019 and 2022.

At the same time, 11% of the new population fell under the poverty line while 15% of the population overcame the poverty line due to an increase in their income ratio between 2019 and 2022. 

Among the remaining 20% population under the poverty line around 9% could not overcome it, the BIDS said.

Explaining the poverty rate, Director General of BIDS Dr Binayak Sen told UNB that 15% of people could overcome poverty due to self-employment, income transfer both from the private and public sectors, and financial dissaving.

The reduction of poverty happened due to self-employment, income transfer both from the private and public sectors, and dissaving, he said.

Around 11% of people fell under the poverty line due to losing employment, losing self-employment in micro and small businesses, he said.   

"This is considerable progress in poverty reduction under the duress of Covid-19," Sen said while presenting a paper on "Urban Poverty Dynamics during Covid-19 Anatomy of Resilience".

The think-tank also found that the proportion of extremely poor households declined by 3.2% from 17.01% to 13.83% during the period.

The BIDS disclosed the findings of the survey at the BIDS Research Almanac 2023, held in a city hotel on Wednesday.