Bangladesh is one of the world’s poorest and most densely populated countries. Poverty in Bangladesh is deep and widespread: almost half the population lives on less than $1 a day. According to UNICEF, 26.5 million Bangladeshi children live below the national poverty line, 33 million below the international poverty line. For decades, poverty in Bangladesh was more concentrated than any other place in the world. What does it mean? Simply that the country has one of the highest percentage of poor people per square mile. Bangladesh is far from reaching its primary education targets. Eighty-five percent of the twenty million primary school age children in Bangladesh are enrolled in school. This means that 3 million children are not even enrolled. Enrollment is only the first part of the challenge. Many children do not attend regularly, and one third of the children in school today – 7 million children – will drop-out before completing primary level education.