Nepal, Bangladesh star performers in poverty

	REPUBLICA KATHMANDU, March 18: Nepal and Bangladesh are star performers in reducing multidimensional poverty, according to a study report released here on Monday by Oxford University. Researchers involved in the study had taken health, education and living standards of the people as major indicators for measuring reduction in the poverty. “Researchers have found that the percentage of poor people in Nepal dropped from 64.7 percent to 44.2 percent between 2006 and 2011 -- a decline by 4.1 percentage points per year,” a press release issued on Monday said. The report also said poverty in Bangladesh also decreased by 3.2 percentage points per year between 2004 and 2007. “In addition to reducing the percentage of poor people, both Nepal and Bangladesh reduced the intensity of poverty,” the report added. India, the largest South Asian nation, also made significant progress between 1999 and 2006. However, its poverty reduction rate was lower than its neighbors. ´The success of Nepal and Bangladesh in reducing poverty despite their relatively low income highlights the effectiveness of social policy investments combined with active civil society engagement,” Dr Sabina Alkire, Director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, said unveiling the report. Of the 22 countries studied, Nepal, Rwanda and Bangladesh were found to have made the largest absolute reductions, followed by Ghana, Tanzania, Cambodia and Bolivia.
Published on 2013-03-18 22:32:56