Bangladesh
Go back Results are from an analysis of the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 6 (MICS6). Information on methodology is in the report and in the methods briefs.
Key indicators on the deprivations and wellbeing experienced by women with and without functional difficulties are presented in Table 1. Table 1 begins with information on the multidimensional poverty headcount—the rate of persons deprived in more than one dimension in the areas of education, health, and standard of living. Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty have a multidimensional poverty headcount of 59% compared to 51% for women with some functional difficulty and 39% for women with no difficulty.
Table 1_Bangladesh: Key indicators for women age 18 to 49 by functional difficulty status (% and percentage points)
| Sample | No Difficulty | Some Difficulty | Difference between no difficulty and some difficulty | At least a lot of difficulty | Difference between no difficulty and at least some difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multidimensional poverty headcount | 39 | 51 | -12*** | 59 | -20*** |
| Less than primary school | 24 | 39 | -15*** | 48 | -24*** |
| Owns a mobile phone | 77 | 72 | 6*** | 63 | 15*** |
| Safely managed drinking water | 98 | 98 | 1*** | 97 | 1*** |
| Safely managed sanitation | 64 | 66 | -2*** | 65 | -1 |
| Clean fuel | 22 | 20 | 2*** | 18 | 3*** |
| Electricity | 91 | 90 | 1* | 87 | 4*** |
| Adequate housing | 42 | 39 | 2*** | 35 | 7*** |
| Owns assets | 27 | 27 | 0*** | 25 | 2*** |
| Having felt discriminated against or harassed | 8 | 12 | -4*** | 15 | -7*** |
| Happiness: very or somewhat happy | 86 | 79 | 7*** | 68 | 18*** |
Notes: *, **, and *** indicate that the difference is statistically significant at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels respectively. ‘-‘ indicates not available. Numbers in the difference columns are in percentage points while all other numbers in the table are percentages.
Source: Bangladesh 2019 MICS6, own calculations
Education
The share of women ages 18 to 49 who have less than primary school as their highest level of schooling attained is significantly higher among women with at least a lot of functional difficulty (48%) and women with some difficulty (39%) compared to women with no difficulty (24%). This boils down to gaps of 15 percentage points (p.p.) between women with some functional difficulty and no difficulty and 48 p.p. between women with at least a lot of difficulty and no difficulty.
Personal Activities
Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty are less likely to own a mobile phone than women with no difficulty, at 63% and 77%, respectively. At 72%, women with some difficulty are also less likely to own a mobile phone than women with no difficulty.
Health
Differences across functional difficulty status are very small (2 p.p. or lower) for safely managed water and sanitation.
Standard of Living
There are significant differences in terms of the shares of individuals with clean fuel, adequate housing, and asset ownership, with lower rates for women with some difficulty and even lower rates for women with at least a lot of difficulty. For all indicators, these differences are range from one to seven p.p.
Insecurity
Women with some difficulty and at least a lot of difficulty are more likely to report feeling discriminated against or harassed for any reason, at rates of 12% and 15% compared to 8% of women with no difficulty.
Subject Wellbeing
Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty are significantly less likely to report feeling very or somewhat happy than women with no difficulty, at 68% and 86%, respectively. At 79%, women with some difficulty also have lower rates of happiness compared to women with no difficulty.
More results for Bangladesh are available in results tables on the ddi website.