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It is better to be poor in the countryside than in the city, according to a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) study of Bangladesh.
"Before, the conception was that rural populations were worse off [compared to urban] when it comes to social development," Carel de Rooy, UNICEF representative, told IRIN from Dhaka. "This report shows very clearly that in fact, urban slums are at the bottom of the pyramid."
The under-five infant mortality rate in Bangladeshi slums is almost double that of the rural and non-slum urban rates, and the national average for secondary education attendance is three times higher in the rural or urban populations than for the city-slum dwellers, the study shows. With slum populations rapidly growing across the country, [ ] (roughly 30 percent of the urban population in the six largest cities now live in slums), the report calls for more targeted programmes for the urban poor.
"In rural areas there are health and education initiatives," said Nazrul Islam, urban specialist and chairman of the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh. "If we are to achieve our development objectives, the urban slums require such focused attention."
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
