Education and Health Expenditures in Bangladesh

Abstract

Data from the 2000 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), together with expenditure data from the Ministries of Education and Health and Family Welfare, was used to analyze the distribution of GoB subsidies in these two sectors across poor and nonpoor. The analysis revealed that only two types of spending – outlays on primary education and allocations to child health within Essential Package of Services – are strongly pro-poor.While overall GoB subsidies to education and health were not pro-poor per se, they were more equitably distributed than private spending in these two sectors. Further, these subsidies reduce overall inequality in the income distribution, as they were found to be more equally distributed across the population as compared to overall private expenditures.