Landlessness in Bangladesh: A Case Study in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh

Md. Abul Quasem
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Md. Abul Quasem: Senior Research Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)

Bangladesh Development Studies, 2001, vol. 27, issue 1, 105-121

Abstract: Landlessness in the context of Bangladesh is almost synonymous with the assetless in the rural society, as land is the dominant productive asset of the rural people. The country, unfortunately, has per capita operated area of only 0.17 acre. Without land, rural people who are overwhelmingly illiterate remain unemployed and in such case their only asset is physical labour. The labour market is also not large enough to absorb all available labour. By selling labour alone, they cannot meet their basic needs and thus, they remain poverty stricken and chronically food-insecure. This is a matter of serious concern to all policy makers of the country. In spite of such awareness on the part of policy makers the growth in the number of landless people is rising faster than the population growth (Abdullah and Murshid 1986). According to Hossain (1986), the rate of growth of landless households was 3.1 per cent per annum, against the population growth of 2.5 per cent during 1960-82. Hossain (1986) also expressed concern by predicting that by the year 1989/90, landless households would rise to about 50 per cent and that of the functionally landless to about 59 per cent of total households in the country.

Keywords: Land ownership; Villages; Households; Development studies; Farmlands; Wages; Land surveying (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:badest:0412

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