We’re excited to be able to share the news that according to a report released by the Microcredit Summit Campaign today, nearly 2 million Bangladeshi households involved in microfinance – including nearly 10 million family members – rose above the $1.25 a day threshold between 1990 and 2008.

The survey of more than 4,000 Bangladeshi households, led by Sajjad Zohir of the Dhaka-based Economic Research Group, found that a dramatic number of families moved out of poverty between 1990 and 1997, but that a massive flood in 1998 and the food and fuel crisis of 2008 were the likely cause for millions of families to fall below the $1.25 a day threshold during that later period.  Even with these setbacks, on net nearly 10 million people rose above the poverty line. Continue reading →