Unpaid domestic work contributes BDT 6.7 trillion to Bangladesh’s GDP; call for prioritizing women

Staff Reporter | PNN:

In Bangladesh, the contribution of unpaid household and caregiving work reached approximately BDT 6.7 trillion in 2021, accounting for 18.9% of the country’s GDP. For the first time, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has published this data.

The report was unveiled on Tuesday (September 9) at the BBS conference hall in Agargaon, Dhaka. The chief guest was Sharmin S. Murshid, Advisor for Women and Children Affairs. Also present were BBS Director General Md. Mizanur Rahman, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Momtaz Ahmed, Secretary of the Statistics and Informatics Division Aleya Aktar, and UN Women representative Geetanjali Singh.

According to the report, women perform 85% of unpaid household and caregiving work. Cooking, laundry, childcare, and caring for persons with disabilities are critical household tasks that form an integral part of the economy, yet remain outside conventional economic statistics.

The BBS emphasized the need to incorporate unpaid work into policy, prioritize it in the national budget and development strategies, and ensure decent care jobs and sustainable financing. Additionally, they called for sharing caregiving responsibilities between men and boys to foster societal change.

UN Women Bangladesh program analyst Nubaira Zehin highlighted the context of the report using the Care Calculator, which helps determine the time spent on unpaid work and its economic value.

Asma Akhtar, Deputy Director of BBS’s Demography and Health Branch, presented the key findings, clearly demonstrating the scale of women’s unpaid work and its economic significance.