Nearly half of households across Bangladesh are in debt as rising living costs continue to outpace incomes, forcing families to borrow to meet everyday expenses.
The burden is particularly acute in rural areas, where more than half of households reported taking loans over the past year.
The findings, from a special survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), highlight the growing financial strain on ordinary people amid persistent inflation, weak income growth and mounting household expenditure.
The BBS’s Living Standard Survey 2025, conducted by its Poverty and Livelihood Statistics Cell at the request of the National Pay Commission, found that 47.42 per cent of households nationwide were in debt.
Over the past year, 51.91 per cent of rural households borrowed to cover their daily living costs.
The corresponding figures were 40.19 per cent in urban areas and 32.11 per cent in city corporation areas.
The survey also found that average monthly household income nationwide stood at Tk 33,513, against expenditure of Tk 35,311, leaving families with an average monthly shortfall of Tk 1,798.
The gap was particularly pronounced in city corporation areas, where average monthly household expenditure reached Tk 46,778. Average spending was Tk 37,344 in other urban areas and Tk 32,532 in rural areas.
The figures suggest that households are increasingly struggling to meet basic expenses from their earnings, with borrowing becoming a means of covering the shortfall.
Household budgets under pressure
Food accounted for around half of total household expenditure nationwide, while the remainder went towards non-food items.
In city corporation areas, non-food expenses made up about 56.7 per cent of monthly spending, reflecting the higher costs of urban living.
The latest findings mark a deterioration from the 2022 Household Income and Expenditure Survey, which recorded average monthly household income of Tk 32,422 and expenditure of Tk 31,500. At that time, households had an average surplus of Tk 922 a month. The latest survey, by contrast, shows a deficit.
Commissioned to help formulate recommendations for a salary increase under the ninth national pay scale for government officials and employees, the survey was conducted from 14 to 18 September last year. It covered 3,000 households in 150 sample areas nationwide, using digital data-collection methods.
Former World Bank Dhaka office lead economist Zahid Hussain said the findings reflected the country’s fragile macroeconomic conditions.
He said sluggish economic growth, persistent inflation, stagnant employment and declining real wages were pushing ordinary people into debt.
Inflation had outpaced wage growth for 56 consecutive months up to last September, significantly eroding people’s purchasing power, he said.
Hussain stressed that the rising cost of living did not indicate an improvement in living standards. Rather, households were struggling to cope with high prices of essential goods.
Debt was more widespread in rural areas, he said, where economic activities and employment opportunities were less diverse than in urban centres. Although remittances support rural households, they reach only around 7 to 8 per cent of the population, leaving most families to rely on savings or borrowing to get by.
Poverty risks deepen
The BBS findings are consistent with the World Bank’s latest poverty projections. In its Bangladesh Development Update, released on 6 October, the bank warned that economic weakness, limited employment opportunities and prolonged inflation could push the national poverty rate up from 18.7 per cent in 2022 to around 22.5 per cent by 2026.
The energy crisis and factory closures have further strained household finances by disrupting industrial activity and limiting the creation of new jobs.
The growing reliance on debt, alongside household budget deficits, points to mounting pressure on living standards and the ability of families to withstand further economic shocks.