ASCERTAINING REGIONAL DISPARITIES IN LIVING CONDITION THROUGH FORMAL REGIONALIZATION: AN INSTANCE OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Housing and basic amenities are the major determinants of people's living condition throughout the world. To improve the living condition of people, it is undoubtedly essential to facilitate them with decent housing and basic amenities. Bangladesh is one of the key developing countries with high population-land ratio throughout the Asian region as well as the whole world. Furthermore, due to rapid population growth, housing has become a vital concern for Bangladesh till date. The housing situation varies in different administrative area due to their different geographical characteristics and location attribute. In this particular study, the 64 administrative areas (District) of Bangladesh is delineated into different regions on the basis of three prime criteria of overall housing quality namely housing structure, sanitation, and electricity connection to identity the inequalities in living condition all through Bangladesh. The required database has been collected from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics CBBS) and consequently been analyzed through composite index method to categorize the whole Bangladesh into three regions namely developed, moderately developed and backward region considering the housing quality and basic amenity facilities they serve. The reliability of the database is checked through different statistical parameters, to be precise the level of Skewness, Kurtosis, Standard Error of Mean and so on. As a major outcome, the study has revealed that almost all of the administrative areas of Bangladesh lies beneath moderately developed and backward region with incredibly nominal basic amenities and proper housing condition required for a better living. Therefore, the study findings can furthermore assist both governmental and development agencies for formulating profound and realistic strategies for the housing sector as well as will act as a guideline for setting the allocation priorities for the basic amenities in deprived regions all over Bangladesh.