Bangladesh has traditionally approached social protection by focusing on expanding programs and increasing expenditure and coverage. While not inherently flawed, this strategy has led to a sprawling and complex social protection network comprising 95 different programs across at least 39 ministries, with a budget of Tk 1,16,731 crore for the fiscal year 2025-26, representing 14.78% of the country’s annual budget. The issue lies not in the amount of money allocated but in its distribution.
A study by the World Bank’s Bangladesh Poverty and Equity Assessment 2025 found that in 2022, 35% of the wealthiest individuals received benefits, while half of the poorest did not. Subsidies intended for the poor, such as those for electricity, fuel, and fertilizers, are being exploited by wealthier segments of the population. In fact, nearly half of the total electricity subsidy expenditure went to the richest urban households, indicating not just inefficient spending but deliberate misuse of the system.
The prevailing macroeconomic conditions have further exacerbated the situation, with inflation outpacing wage growth over the past 50 months up to March 2026. The average inflation rate stood at 9.73%, while the wage growth rate was only 7.74% in FY2024, as per data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. This prolonged period of declining real incomes means that the poor are not only resource-constrained but are actually becoming poorer.
The existing safety net system in Bangladesh evolved organically without a deliberate design. Various programs like the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh’s Family Card, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Farmers Card, and proposed schemes like the LPG card operate independently, leading to duplication, inefficiencies, and lack of coordination. This fragmented approach results in funds being channeled to already-serviced households and significant overlap in beneficiary coverage.
A potential solution to this complexity is the implementation of a unified social identification card system, creating a single national identity platform linked to a dynamic social registry for all welfare benefits. This streamlined approach would eliminate duplicate benefits, enhance visibility of exclusions, and enable rapid response during crises by connecting with the most affected families promptly.
International examples like India’s Aadhaar-linked Direct Benefit Transfer system and Brazil’s Cadastro Único demonstrate the effectiveness of centralized welfare registries in reducing leakage and enhancing efficiency. Bangladesh has initiated the Family Card pilot project in March 2026, involving 40,000 families in 14 upazilas, with plans to introduce a “Universal Social ID Card” by 2030. However, the success of these initiatives hinges on establishing an integrated monitoring framework and addressing challenges such as data security, digital inclusion, and political will for consolidation.
In conclusion, Bangladesh must move beyond the proliferation of separate social welfare cards and focus on integrating existing programs into a cohesive system. The country has the groundwork laid out, and now is the time to streamline and consolidate these efforts to create a more effective and inclusive social protection mechanism.
