BBS Survey Finds 47% of Bangladeshi Households in Debt as Living Costs Force Families to Dip Into Savings

❐ Staff Reporter

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Almost half of the country’s families are having to borrow money to meet their household expenses. This situation has been created due to the pressure of both, despite the increase in the cost of living and the lack of income. This picture has emerged in a special survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

According to the survey, 47.42 percent of the country’s families are carrying the burden of debt. Rural families are under more pressure than urban families. The survey was conducted during the interim government, before the recommendations for the ninth national salary scale were formulated.

At the request of the National Pay Commission, BBS worked from September 14 to 18 last year.

The Poverty and Livelihood Statistics Cell of BBS has published the report titled ‘Quality of Life Survey 2025’. Computer-based digital interviews were conducted to collect data. A total of 3,000 family members were interviewed from 150 primary sample areas in rural, urban and city corporation areas.

The report said that 51.91 percent of rural households have taken loans to meet their daily needs in the past year. The rate is 40.19 percent in urban areas and 32.11 percent in city corporation areas.

The survey found that the average monthly household income at the national level was 33,513 taka, and the average expenditure was 35,311 taka. In the 2022 Household Income and Expenditure Survey, the average income was 32,422 taka and the average expenditure was 31,500 taka.

According to BBS, families in city corporation areas spend the most on average—46,778 taka—per month. The average monthly expenditure of a family in urban areas is 37,344 taka; in rural areas, it is 32,532 taka.

Surveys show that nationally, about half of a household’s monthly spending goes on food, with the other half going to non-food sectors. However, the pattern of spending varies by region.

Rural households spend relatively more on food, while urban households have higher non-food expenses. 56.7 percent of the total monthly expenses of households in city corporation areas go to non-food items.

On the other hand, wage growth had been below the inflation rate for 56 consecutive months until last September. The BBS wage index shows that wage growth fell to 7.9 percent in September. It was 8.05 percent in the previous month.

This index is created by monitoring the monthly wages of low-paid skilled and unskilled workers working in 63 occupations in agriculture, industry, and the service sectors.

The World Bank’s Bangladesh Development Update report, published on October 6, said that rising inflation for four years has become a major cause of economic stress by continuously reducing the purchasing power of families.

The prolonged economic slowdown, weak labor demand, and continued pressure on living standards are likely to push the poverty rate in the country up from 18.7 percent in 2022 to 22.5 percent in 2026.

The report also noted that, when calculated using the international poverty line of $3 a day, the extreme poverty rate increased from 5.9 percent to 10.1 percent during the same period.

The energy crisis has also reduced the productivity of businesses, which has become an obstacle to creating new jobs in the industrial sector.

The World Bank predicts that the poverty rate in the country could rise to 22.5 percent by the end of this year. In 2022, the rate was 18.7 percent.

However, the Power and Participation Research Center (PPRC), a domestic research organization, said in a report released on Saturday that 27.93 percent of the country’s people were below the high poverty line in 2025. Families are taking out loans or breaking their savings to meet household expenses.

Commenting on the BBS survey data, Selim Raihan, executive director of the research organization South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), said that the country has been experiencing high inflation for four years. Therefore, the picture emerging from the survey seems credible to him.

He said that even people in relatively better circumstances are now taking out loans, although their reasons for taking out loans are different.

According to Selim Raihan, when poor people can no longer cope, they borrow to cover the costs of food, medical care, and education.

At a time when poverty is increasing, investment is slowing, and employment opportunities are not being created, the number of indebted households found in the BBS survey is of deep concern.