Bangladesh has made huge progress in poverty alleviation and performed well in several other indicators under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to four-year progress report on SDGs.
The report, published on Thursday has, however, laid emphasis on mobilising resources, strengthening technology, building capacity, smoothing trade and ensuring consistency of necessary procedures to attain the goals.
The report shows that Bangladesh has stayed ahead of its South Asian neighbours for the 5th straight time, indicating better performance in promoting women empowerment.
General Economics Department (GED) of the Planning Commission unveiled the “Sustainable Development Goals: Bangladesh Progress Report-2020” at the NEC conference room in the capital’s Agargaon area.
According to the report, the country performed well in attainment of six goals, including poverty alleviation, among the 17 SDGs, in the last four years.
The population living below the national high poverty line and below the poverty line is steadily declining, it shows.
In addition to the proportion of children under the age of five, the under-five mortality rate has been steadily declining.
Apart from this, the number of students completing primary education is increasing, it says adding that the annual GDP growth is on the rise and the country's telecommunication system is being modernised.
However, the implementation of the remaining 11 goals of the SDGs is not in a good position while the situation is deteriorating in the implementation of one of the goals, the report shows.
Four goals could not be assessed for lack of data while the real progress on the remaining six goals has come to a standstill.
The government, however, said the implementation of the SDGs has been streamlined.
Planning Minister MA Mannan said the government is very cooperative to attain the SDGs in the country. “The country is on the right track.”
The minister said, “Coronavirus crisis has slowed down many activities in the country. If the second wave of corona infection does not come, we will rapidly implement the development activities, including those SDG goals in which we have not performed well.”
The SDGs are no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation, and infrastructure, reducing inequality, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace, justice, and strong institutions, and partnerships for the goals respectively.
GED Member (Senior Secretary) Dr Shamsul Alam said that the proportion of population living below the national upper poverty line declined to 20.5 percent in 2019 from 24.3 percent in 2016 while the population below the lower poverty line dropped to 10.5 percent.
He showed that towards the goal to end hunger, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in reducing the percentage of stunted children under 5 years by almost half from 60 percent in 1996-97 to 28 percent in 2019.
On the goal about healthy lives and well-being, the maternal mortality ratio has persistently dropped and the number of births attended by skilled health personnel has remarkably improved.
A continuous decrease has been observed in U5MR during 1995-2019 from 128 to 28. The nation is in line in achieving the 2020 milestone for U5MR.
Besides, the incidence of malaria dropped to 1.6 per 1,000 population in 2019 from 4.3 in 2015. Adolescent birth rate per 1,000 women in 15-19 age group significantly declined from 144 in 1999 to 83 in 2019.
Towards that attainment of inclusive and equitable quality education, the adult literacy rate increased significantly from around 53.5 percent in 2005 to 73.9 percent in 2018.
On ensuring clean water and sanitation, the report indicates that in 2019, the proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services stood at 47.9 percent at the national level and 98.5 percent of household members were using improved sources of drinking water.
In 2019, 84.6 percent of household members were using improved sanitation facilities and 74.8 percent households reported practicing a hand-washing facility with soaps and water resources.
The report says more than 92 percent of people have access to electricity and the proportion of population with access to clean fuels and technology increased to 19 percent in 2019 from 7.24 percent in 2000.
The report has highlighted that Bangladesh’s upward shift in the average annual growth rate of real GDP per capita to 6.91 percent in FY 2018-19 from 5.1 percent in the baseline FY 2014-15 is noteworthy.
However, it says, there are significant uncertainties over the growth prospects due to the recent outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
It says higher unemployment rate of women, informality in job market, skills demand and supply mismatch, child labour and problems involving migration of workers need to be tackled.
On reducing inequalities, the report says income inequality increased while consumption inequality remained relatively stable over time.
Official development assistance and foreign direct investment shows an increasing trend, according to the report.
In 2018, Bangladesh received $6,369 million in ODA and $4,946 million in FDI.
