Food energy intake and cost of basic needs: Measuring poverty in Bangladesh

Past estimates of poverty in Bangladesh based on the food energy intake method found decreasing poverty over time and similar poverty in urban and rural areas. Using the cost of basic needs method, we find increasing poverty for 1984-92 and higher poverty in rural than urban areas. Examples of lack of consistency in past estimates are highlighted. A method is introduced to assess the gap narrowing and re-ranking impacts on poverty measures of changes in poverty lines. The article also estimates the marginal impact of household characteristics such as household size, education, occupation and land ownership on the probability of being poor.