Bangladeshis are at the top of the poorest and most deprived communities in Britain.
A recent study by Queen's University in Belfast states that nearly two hundred thousand Bangladeshis are among the ten percent of the total population who are the most deprived and poor. But they love to hide their poverty from their neighbors.
The study cites one example, the Leymouth area of Tower Hamlets, where current levels of deprivation place it in the lowest ten per cent of deprived areas in the country. There are also communities of Bangladeshi origin living in the area who can be ranked among the poorest ten percent.
Laurence Guinness, chief executive of The Childhood Trust, said the higher prevalence of poverty among people of Bangladeshi heritage in areas such as Newham in east London stems from com[1]plex factors such as low incomes and discrimination.
The study also cited the 2021 census showed that almost half of Bangladeshi people were unemployed or economically inactive, compared with just over a quarter for white English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British people.
The researchers said: “The evidence of stark and persistent ethnic minority disadvantage encompassing domains of health, education, housing, labour market and criminal justice in the UK, is strong.
“Within this disadvantage, however, there is considerable variation. As a case in point, Pakistani men earn on average £4 less per hour compared with white British men, whereas Chinese men earn £1 more.
“Age-standardised poor selfrated health for Bangladeshi women is one and a half times worse than for white British women, whereas black African men are almost half as likely to report poor health compared with white British men.
“Questions remain as to whether and why some ethnic groups in some places are faring better than the others.”
Responding to the findings, a spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We are committed to transforming our approach to data so we have the right information to make better decisions and target money where it’s most needed.”
Commenting on the matter, former Deputy Mayor of Tower Hamlets Council and current Councilor Ohid Ahmed said, to address these challenges, reforms in education, focusing on the most disadvantaged areas to ensure equal opportunities, employment initiatives to provide access to better paying jobs and focus on affordable housing.