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The second wave of the pandemic, this year, pushed 3.24 crore people — 19.54 percent of the country’s population — into poverty in August, according to a new survey.
Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and the Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) came up with the findings at a virtual press conference today.
The fourth phase of the study was conducted in August 2021 to examine the extended impact of the pandemic on vulnerable populations.
“In June, 2020, new poor was estimated at 21.24% which declined to 14.75% in March, 2021 and has now again risen in August due to the shock of second wave starting in April this year,” PRC Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman said at the briefing.
Onset of recovery after initial income shock of the Covid crisis led some to view the new poor phenomenon as a transient problem. Eighteen months into the crisis and after the new reversal following the second lockdown, the new poor phenomenon has deepened rather than lessened, he said.
The recovery is not only fragile. The second lockdown in April, 2021 has underscored continuing threat and reality of disruptions in the recovery process due to new waves of Covid-19 infection and how meaningfully they are managed.
The survey found income recovery was reversed and at the end of 18 months since the pandemic hit, average income among the surveyed poor was 23% below the pre-Covid level.
Percentage of households who were skipping a meal the previous day jumped from 2 percent in March, 2021 to 7 percent in August, 2021.
Unemployment recovery too was reversed — rising 3 percentage points to 14 percent in August, 2021 compared to March, 2021.
(TDS)
