Uneven Development in Bangladesh: A Temporal and Regional Analysis

Abstract

During the past quarter century, although Bangladesh’s economic growth has consistently registered a sustained growth of 6%, its benefits have been highly unevenly distributed across the country’s regions—creating leading and lagging areas that laid bare the yawning gaps between economic classes. Based on secondary data, this paper analyzes interhousehold income inequality and the disparities between the northern and southern divisions in Bangladesh. Within a theoretical framework of development, including the notions of equality, we look at some temporal and spatial evidence of income inequality and regional disparities that call for government intervention for inclusive development, as opposed to unregulated market-led economic growth tainted by corruption. Our analysis suggests that mobilization and allocation of resources for industries, infrastructure, and social overheads in lagging regions will help grow income levels and alleviate peoples’ suffering due to poor linkages with two metropolitan cores of the country—the capital city of Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong. Accordingly, we put forward an approach that emphasizes redistribution with growth in public-sector resource allocation—in particular, division-wise separate development budget with a priority to Rangpur, Barisal, and Mymensingh division, the most deprived regions of the country. In this allocation process, emphasis should be given to poor groups of the people as well as to poor regions of the country.