This statistic shows the biggest cities in Bangladesh in 2022. In 2022, approximately ***** million people lived in Dhaka, making it the biggest city in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh BD: Population in Largest City data was reported at 23,935,652.000 Person in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 23,209,616.000 Person for 2023. Bangladesh BD: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 7,344,419.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2024, with 65 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 23,935,652.000 Person in 2024 and a record low of 507,921.000 Person in 1960. Bangladesh BD: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bangladesh – Table BD.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.;United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.;;

Bangladesh BD: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 33.448 % in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 33.444 % for 2023. Bangladesh BD: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 30.733 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2024, with 65 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 33.448 % in 2024 and a record low of 19.085 % in 1960. Bangladesh BD: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bangladesh – Table BD.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.;United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.;Weighted average;

Population in the largest city (% of urban population) in Bangladesh was reported at 33.45 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Bangladesh - Population in the largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

Population in largest city in Bangladesh was reported at 23935652 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Bangladesh - Population in largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

The share of urban population in Bangladesh increased by 0.8 percentage points (+2.01 percent) in 2023 in comparison to the previous year. With 40.47 percent, the share thereby reached its highest value in the observed period. Notably, the share continuously increased over the last years.A population may be defined as urban depending on the size (population or area) or population density of the village, town, or city. The urbanization rate then refers to the share of the total population who live in an urban setting. International comparisons may be inconsistent due to differing parameters for what constitutes an urban center.

Accessibility to major cities dataset is modeled as raster-based travel time/cost analysis, computed for the largest cities (>500k habitants) in the country. This 500m resolution raster dataset is part of FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative, Geographical Information Systems - Multicriteria Decision Analysis (GIS-MCDA) aimed at the identification of value chain infrastructure sites (or optimal location).

Abstract

The main objective of the 2019 Chattogram for Low Income Area Gender, Inclusion, and Poverty (CITY) study is to collect primary data from male and female residents in slum and non-slum poor neighborhoods in Chattogram, the second largest city of Bangladesh, and build the evidence base about their constraints to access more and better jobs. The CITY survey was designed to shed light on poverty, economic empowerment, and livelihood in urban areas of Bangladesh as well as to identify key constraints and solutions for low-income women trying to obtain better jobs.

A broad array of information was collected on issues related to women's economic empowerment, ranging from demographic and socioeconomic characteristics to detailed work history, time use, attitudes about work, and perceptions of work. The key feature of this survey is to collect economic data directly from the main household members, generally the main couples, unlike traditional surveys which only interviewed the heads of households (who tend to be men in most cases); thus, failed to gather valuable information from the female population.

Geographic coverage

Poor areas of slum & non-slum areas of Chattogram, the second largest city of Bangladesh.

Analysis unit

Household, individual

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The CITY 2019 survey was designed using a two-stage sampling strategy. The major features include the following steps:

FIRST STAGE: The primary sampling units (PSUs) in the first stage were selected using a probability proportional to size (PPS) methods. Using the 2011 census sampling frame, low-income PSUs were defined as non-slum census enumeration areas (EAs) using the 2011 Bangladesh Poverty Map. Three strata were used for sampling the low-income EAs. These strata were defined based on the poverty head-count ratios. The first stratum encompasses EAs with a poverty headcount ratio less than 10%; the second stratum between 11% and 14%; and the third stratum, those exceeding 15%. Overall, 22 low-income EAs were selected in the Chattogram City Corporation (CC).

Slums were defined as informal settlements that were listed in the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics' slum census from 2013/14. This census was used as sampling frame of the slum areas. Based on the sizes of the slums, three strata were used for sampling purposes. This time the strata were based on the size of the slums. The first stratum comprises slums of 50 to 75 households; the second 76 to 99 households; and the third, more than 100 households. Small slums with fewer than 50 households were not included in the sampling frame. Overall, 18 slums were included as a part of the survey.

SECOND STAGE: The second stage of the selection process in each of the EAs began with a listing exercise. For very large EAs, a smaller section was delineated for the listing. The second level of stratification are defined as follows:

i) Households with both working-age male and female members; ii) Households with only a working-age female; iii) Households with only a working-age male.

Households were randomly selected from each stratum with the predetermined ratio of 16:3:1. Overall, data was collected from 805 households (1289 individuals - 580 in slum and 709 in non-slum areas).

Sampling deviation

For EAs where the ratio was unable to be attained due to absence of households in certain strata, households from the first category to arrive at a final number of 20 per EA.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Response rate

77%

This horizontal bar chart displays population (people) by cities using the aggregation sum in Bangladesh. The data is about cities.

The population density in Bangladesh reached its highest in 2020, amounting to approximately 1.27 thousand people per square kilometer. The South Asian country was the tenth most densely populated country in the world in 2019. Within the Asia Pacific region, Bangladesh’s population density was only exceeded by Macao, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Maldives. Overall, Asia had the highest population density in the world in 2018.

Population growth in Bangladesh

In 1971, Bangladesh gained its independence from Pakistan. Bangladesh’s birth rate and mortality rate had declined significantly in the past years with a life expectancy of 72.59 years in 2019. In general, the population in Bangladesh had been growing at a slow pace, slightly fluctuating around an annual rate of one percent. This growth was forecasted to continue, although it was estimated to halve by 2040. As of today, Dhaka is the largest city in Bangladesh.

Population density explained

According to the source, “population density is the mid-year population divided by land area in square kilometers.” Further, “population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents.” Bangladesh’s population reached an estimated number of 164.69 million inhabitants in 2020. In 2018, the country’s land area amounted 130.2 thousand square kilometers.

Graph and download economic data for Geographical Outreach: Number of Branches in 3 Largest Cities, Excluding Headquarters, for Other Financial Intermediaries for Bangladesh (BGDFCBMLNUM) from 2004 to 2015 about intermediaries, branches, Bangladesh, and financial.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Dhaka, Bangladesh metro area from 1950 to 2025.

This horizontal bar chart displays countries yearly by capital city using the aggregation count in Bangladesh. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

The data source of this data set is the first, second and third bands of the atmospheric top layer reflectance data of Landsat-5 satellite. Landsat satellite is a sun synchronous satellite. The satellite moves from north to south. The earth rotates from west to East. The satellite circles the earth 14.5 times a day. Each circle moves 159km to the west of the equator. It covers every 16 days repeatedly. This data set mainly covers Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Based on the top layer reflectance data of Landsat-5 atmosphere in 2010, this data is downloaded from the geospatial data cloud platform, and uses ArcGIS to synthesize the data band. Finally, the 30 meter resolution multispectral remote sensing image data of Dhaka area 2010 in TIFF format is obtained.

This horizontal bar chart displays net migration (people) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Bangladesh. The data is filtered where the date is 2023. The data is about countries per year.

This horizontal bar chart displays land area (km²) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Bangladesh. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

Mogadishu in Somalia led the ranking of cities with the highest population density in 2023, with ****** residents per square kilometer. When it comes to countries, Monaco is the most densely populated state worldwide.

Abstract

The Bangladesh Urban Informal Settlements Survey (UIS) 2016’s main objective is to collect detailed consumption data from urban slums households following the same methodology used by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to collect household consumption data to construct official poverty estimates using the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES).

Analysis unit

Slum household

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The survey collected data from a total of 600 urban slum households in the Dhaka City Corporation - 10 slum households from 57 medium and large size slum communities, and 5 slum households from a total of 6 small size slum communities. The sampling frame for this study came from the 2014 BBS Census of Slums and Floating Population. Urban slums or slum communities were classified into three different strata - small size slums (5-10 households); medium size slums (11-200 households); and large size slums (more than 200 households). These three strata were not all used as domains of study but rather defined based on field logistics operations - each stratum followed a slightly different field operation strategy to account for the fact that finding, listing, and interviewing households in small slums posed very different challenges for the field implementation than interviewing households in medium or large slums.

The Primary Sampling Units (PSU) in the survey were the slum communities. There were a total of 3,360 slum communities with more than 5 households in the Dhaka City Corporation. PSUs were equally allocated between strata 1 and 2 (small and medium size slum communities) and stratum 3 (large slum communities) using a combination of PPS and practical allocation. More specifically, PSUs were allocated across strata using PPS with the number of slum households used as the measure of size and rounding to account for the pre-determined cluster size of 10 slum households per PSU for medium size slum communities and 5 slum households per PSU for small slum communities. Using this rule we got an allocation of PSUs which very closely resembled the distribution of slum households across the three strata. Table 1 in the sampling document provided under Related Materials tab reports the number of slum communities and households in the BBS 2014 Census of Slums and Floating Population and the UIS sample by stratum. In the second sampling stage, the list of households in selected slum communities was updated as part of the field work. Using this updated list of households, 5 or 10 households were selected from each slum community using systematic equal probability sampling.

As mentioned previously, the selection of slum communities and households followed slightly different field implementation strategies across strata in three dimensions - creation of replacement slum communities, listing exercise, and selection of households. In terms of the creation of replacement slum communities, the first stage sampling included a ratio of 2:1 replacement slum communities for stratum 1 or small size slum communities (i.e. 2 replacement slum communities for each slum community that needed to be selected). For stratum 2 (medium size slum communities), the first stage sampling included a ratio of 1:2 replacement slum communities (i.e. 1 replacement slum community for each 2 slum communities that needed to be selected). For stratum 3 (large size slum communities), the first stage sampling included a ratio of 1:3 replacement slum communities (i.e. 1 replacement slum community for each 3 slum communities that needed to be selected).

The listing and selection of households in the final stage also followed different field protocols across strata. For stratum 1 (small size slum communities), all households were listed. If the selected slum community had only 5 households, all households were interviewed. If the selected slum community had more than 5 households, systematic equal probability sampling was used based on the updated list to select 5 of them that would be selected to be interviewed. For stratum 2 (medium size slum communities), all households were listed and 10 were selected to be interviewed using systematic equal probability sampling based on the updated list. Lastly, for stratum 3, slum communities were segmented into listing blocks of around 200-250 slum households each. Then one of the segments was randomly selected from each slum community to conduct the full listing exercise. 10 households were selected from the updated list to be interviewed using systematic equal probability sampling.

The survey was fielded over a period of 16 days, using 30 teams of two interviewers each. Each team was responsible for visiting 2 slum communities during this period and administer 10 household surveys in each community. Slum communities were allocated into teams based on practical considerations (e.g. distance of slum communities). During the first two days, interviewers conducted the listing and did the sampling using the field protocols described above for each of the stratum. In the next 14 days, each enumerator visited 5 households each day for a total of 7 times to collect 2-days recall consumption data. At the end of the 14-days period, each enumerator was expected to have completed 10 full questionnaires (5 from each of assigned slum community).

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

One household level questionnaire

Cleaning operations

The CSPro data entry program was used for data entry and editing.

This horizontal bar chart displays expense (% of GDP) by capital city using the aggregation average, weighted by gdp in Bangladesh. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

Bangladesh Market Outlook

The Bangladesh market size is projected to grow significantly, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.5% from 2023 to 2032. The global market size for 2023 is $411 billion, and it is forecasted to reach approximately $685 billion by 2032. This growth is driven primarily by an expanding industrial base, increased foreign investment, and a burgeoning middle class with rising disposable incomes.

One of the key growth factors for the Bangladesh market is the robust expansion of the textiles and garments industry. As one of the largest sectors in the country, it accounts for a significant portion of export revenue and employment. Favorable government policies, such as tax incentives and the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), have spurred further investment and production capacity in this sector. Additionally, the global shift towards sustainable and ethical fashion has created opportunities for Bangladeshi manufacturers to capture new market shares by adhering to international standards and certification.

Another critical factor contributing to the market growth is the rapid development of the pharmaceutical industry. Bangladesh has emerged as a significant player in the global pharmaceutical landscape, primarily due to its ability to produce generic drugs at competitive prices. The industry has benefited from consistent government support, including relaxed regulatory frameworks and incentives for research and development. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for robust healthcare infrastructure, leading to increased investment in medical facilities and pharmaceutical production capabilities.

The burgeoning Information Technology (IT) sector is also a major growth driver. With a young, tech-savvy population, Bangladesh has seen a surge in IT-related activities, including software development, IT services, and business process outsourcing (BPO). Government initiatives such as the Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021 have played a pivotal role in fostering an environment conducive to IT growth. This push towards digital transformation has also attracted significant foreign direct investment (FDI), further bolstering the sector.

Regionally, Dhaka remains the economic powerhouse of Bangladesh, contributing a substantial portion to the country's GDP. The city has seen significant infrastructure development, including the construction of metro lines and expressways, which facilitate business operations and attract investments. Chittagong, as a major port city, also plays a crucial role in the country's trade dynamics, handling a large volume of imports and exports. Khulna and Rajshahi, while smaller in comparison, are growing economic centers with increasing industrial activities and investment opportunities.

Industry Analysis

Textiles and Garments Analysis

The textiles and garments industry is the cornerstone of Bangladesh's economy, accounting for about 84% of the country’s total exports. This sector has experienced exponential growth due to several favorable conditions, including abundant labor supply, competitive labor costs, and supportive government policies. The establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) has provided a controlled environment for businesses to operate efficiently, thereby attracting foreign investors. Additionally, the global trend towards sustainable and ethical production practices has led Bangladeshi manufacturers to adopt international standards, thereby opening new export markets.

Bangladesh's comparative advantage in this sector lies in its ability to produce garments at a lower cost compared to other countries. The availability of a large, skilled, and semi-skilled workforce has made it possible for manufacturers to produce high volumes at competitive prices. Moreover, government incentives such as tax holidays, subsidies, and reduced import duties on raw materials have further fueled growth in this sector. The implementation of advanced technologies like automated sewing machines and cutting-edge design software has also enhanced production efficiency and quality.

The industry's growth is not without its challenges. Issues such as poor labor conditions, safety concerns, and environmental impacts have drawn international scrutiny. However, significant strides have been made to address these issues through initiatives like the Bangladesh Accord and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which aim to improve factory safety and workers' rights. Additionally, th