Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in South Asia. It has a population of 144 million, 21% living in urban
centres. The rate of population increase has reduced from 2.5 in 1997 to 1.6 in 2001 while the urban population has
increased from 6% in 1961 to 21% in 2001 of the total. The World Bank estimates the country population at 181 million
by 2025 with 41% i.e. 73 million, living in the urban areas. Nearly half of the urban population will be living in slums
and squatter settlements with little or no services. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics carried out Households Income and
Expenditure Survey (HIES) in 2000 and the report has been published in 2003. The survey divided the poor people in
two categories; absolute poor & hard core poor. HIES defines absolute poor as a person who consume less than 2122
k.cal/day, and hard core poor a person who consume less than 1805 k.cal/day. According to HIES 44.33% people are
absolute poor & 19.98 % people are hardcore poor. In rural area hard-core poverty is sharply decreasing whereas in
urban area, opposite picture is noticed in respect of absolute and hard core poverty situations. In 2004-2005 WaterAid
Bangladesh carried out an independent base line survey. According to that 30.6% slum dwellers are hardcore poor and
44.5% are absolute poor
