More rural households in debt than in cities: Survey
On an average each Bangladeshi family had loans amounting to Tk70,506 in 2022
In 2022, more rural households were in debt than people living in the cities, according to a recent survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
An average of 39.35% of families in rural areas were in debt while the figure was 32.11% in urban areas, reports the UNB citing the survey.
In 2016, the average household debt in urban areas was 22.10%, which in rural areas was 32.70%. In comparison, the number of households in debt increased by an average of 10% in urban areas in 2022, and by 6.5% in rural areas, says the BBS survey.
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The average loan amount of each family in Bangladesh was Tk70,506 in 2022, up from Tk37,743 in 2016, according to the survey.
One-third of households in Bangladesh are now in debt. This information has emerged in the latest household income-expenditure survey of BBS.
According to the survey, 37% of the country's households have taken loans or borrowed money last year.
During the survey, conducted from January to December last year, an average of 37.03% of households reported taking loans or borrowed money. In the 2016 survey, 29.70% of the households were borrowing.
As such, in 6 years, the borrowing of families in the country has increased by more than 7%.
BBS published the preliminary results of Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2022 last Wednesday.
