Bangladesh presents an interesting case of sustained economic growth yet
persistently high levels of malnutrition. The country has maintained 6%
economic growth over the past decade, and has achieved its millennial
development goal (MDG) of reducing poverty by half over the 1991-92 level. Yet,
it has failed to achieve the MDG target of halving the proportion of
malnourished people by half. The absolute number of undernourished people
has increased from 39.3 million in 1990-91 to 44 million at present, which was
supposed to be reduced to 31.8 million by 2015 to meet the MDG target (FPMU
2008). In fact, Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of chronic and acute
malnutrition in the world, particularly among women and children, which is
above the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) threshold for public health
emergency (World Food Programme, 2012). The 2014 Bangladesh Demographic
and Health Survey (BDHS) notes that nearly 36 percent of children under the
age of five are stunted1 and 33 percent of them are underweight2. The survey
also indicates that the number of stunted and underweight children is
respectively 23% and 33% higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. In
addition, children born in lowest income quintile families are nearly 2.5 times
more likely to be malnourished than the children born in top income quintile
families (NIPORT 2015: 44).