Sylhet Division: Bangladesh's Poorest Region

According to the 2016 Household Income and Expenditure Survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the poorest area in Bangladesh is the Sylhet division, with a poverty rate of 33.6% (national average 24.3%). Contributing factors include lack of access to education and jobs, limited infrastructure, natural disasters, and political instability. Rural Sylhet's poverty rate is 38.9% vs. 26.7% urban. Government programs (VGD, EGPP, RIDF, a2i) aim to reduce poverty, but challenges remain.