Households have spent an average of Tk 11,574 per year on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) which is only 4.3 per cent of their annual household income.
According to a survey conducted under the initiative of the Ministry of Planning (MoP) and Local Government Division (LGD), households spent Tk 8,087 on hygiene, Tk 1,985 on sanitation and Tk 1,502 on water per year.
Distribution of household WASH expenditure by income found that households with low income and living in impoverished conditions in both the urban and rural areas spent a large portion of their income on WASH.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) revealed the findings of the survey titled ‘National Wash Accounts 2020’ at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Dhaka on Sunday.
Planning Minister M A Mannan was present as the chief guest while Alamgir Hossen, Deputy Director of National Wash Accounts development programme, presented the report.
At the request of Local Government Division, BBS and WaterAid Bangladesh with the technical support of WHO and UNICEF successfully followed 'TrackFin' guidelines for the first time to formulate the National Wash Accounts in Bangladesh for proper planning, policymaking and evidence-based development planning.
In 2021, BBS collected the data on WASH-related expenditure at household level through a national household survey using Census 2011 as the sampling frame.
A total of 202 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) were randomly selected between urban and rural areas and 2,525 households from each of the two areas were covered in the survey.
The expenditure includes building and looking after water storage, treatment facilities, pipes, and wells by taking care of water resources in places like watersheds.
Sanitation work is about managing waste, wastewater, and sewage, and providing personal toilets. Hygiene work covers hand-washing and menstrual hygiene management.
To track overall spending trends in the WASH sector, the report also found that total WASH expenditure of Bangladesh in 2020 was Tk 598 million which was 2.18 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Around Tk 172 billion which is 28 per cent of the total Wash spending was on capital investment for building new water supply, sanitation of hygiene services, including hardware and software costs such as the procurement of pipes or paying for detailed design or associated training.
Per capita WASH spending was Tk 3,491 where residents of Dhaka spent Tk 4,295 per person, followed by Chattogram Tk 3,991.
At divisional level, the highest amount of WASH spending was incurred in Dhaka division which is Tk 204 billion, followed by Chattogram division Tk 139 billion.
Expenditure reported by Rajshahi division accounts for 12 per cent, with similar levels for Khulna, Mymensingh and Rangpur, ranging from 7.4 per cent to 8 per cent.
The lowest share of WASH spending is observed at Sylhet and Barishal divisions, accounting for 4.6 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively.
Around 16 per cent of total WASH spending in 2020 was financed by the central and sub-national government funding.
Of the total outlay of Tk 96.5 billion by the government, the national authorities accounted for Tk 80.3 billion while local authorities accounted for Tk 13.5 billion.
In 2020, expenditure by bilateral agencies directly on WASH-related projects was Tk 1.3 billion, a relatively small portion of the total WASH expenditure.
MA Mannan said, “The government of Bangladesh is committed to end poverty, ensure good health for all, gender equality, climate, nutrition and food security, decent employment and quality education as well as access to safe and affordable water and sanitation for all to achieve SDG 6 by 2030.”
“BBS will continue to regularly update the 'National Wash Accounts' in the future to develop evidence-based planning and policies in the WASH sector as well as ensure transparency and accountability in the WASH sector,” he added.
Hasin Jahan, Country Director, WaterAid Bangladesh, expressed her strong optimism that through the formulation and adoption of National Wash Accounts, and the formulation and implementation of an integrated development plan by the government, relevant development partners, local government institutions, domestic and international development agencies to ensure universal WASH services will be facilitated.”
She also said, “It will be possible to accelerate the current development trend of the WASH sector by ensuring sustainable and equitable management of water resources with appropriate financing, achieving the SDG 6, as targeted.”
Dr Shahnaz Arefin, secretary, Statistics and Informatics Division, Ministry of Planning, and Mustakim Billah Faruqui, Additional Secretary, Local Government Division, were present as special guests in the publication event.
Representatives from various public and private institutions and development aid organisations, academicians, researchers, journalists, and officials from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and WaterAid Bangladesh attended the programme.
