[🇧🇩] Bangladesh Urban Development

Bilal9 · Oct 5, 2025

Cox's Bazaar (Bangladesh Premier seaside resort) detailed visit report with recent real estate and tourism developments. Close captioning in English available.

Bilal9 · Nov 29, 2025

Dhaka emerges 2nd most populous city in the world

In 2000, Dhaka’s population was only 17.4 million, and over the following 25 years, it more than doubled to reach 36.6 million in 2025.

Tribune Report

Publish : 27 Nov 2025, 12:12 AM
Update : 27 Nov 2025, 12:12 AM

With 36.6 million inhabitants, Dhaka has emerged as the world’s second-most populous city in 2025, trailing only the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, which has a population of 41.9 million.

A recent UN report notes that Bangladesh’s capital has experienced a remarkable population surge, rising from ninth place to second within just the past 25 years. With the current growth trend, the report predicts that Dhaka is set to overtake Jakarta as the world’s most populous city by 2050.

“Fast-growing Dhaka is expected to become the world’s largest city by mid-century. Karachi (Pakistan) will enter the top ten by 2030 and could rank fifth by 2050.

Meanwhile, Tokyo is projected to fall in rank from third in 2025 to seventh in 2050, as its population shrinks to around 31 million,” states the report titled World Urbanization Prospects 2025, released this week by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

In 2000, Dhaka’s population was only 17.4 million, and over the following 25 years, it more than doubled to reach 36.6 million in 2025.

Tokyo, which had a population of 30.3 million in 2000, was the world’s most populous city at the time. However, with only marginal population growth over the past 25 years, the Japanese capital has now fallen to third place, with 33.4 million residents.

Following Jakarta, Dhaka, and Tokyo, the other seven cities in the current top-ten list are: New Delhi (30.2 million), Shanghai (29.6 million), Guangzhou (27.6 million), Cairo (25.6 million), Manila (24.7 million), Kolkata (22.5 million), and Seoul (22.5 million).

Shanghai and Cairo are new entrants in 2025, as they were not among the top ten most populous cities in 2000. In contrast, Mexico City and São Paulo—two major cities in the Americas that were in the top ten in 2000—did not make the list in 2025.

The UN report projects that by 2050, Dhaka will become the world’s most populous megacity, with a population of 52.1 million, surpassing Jakarta, which is projected to have 51.8 million residents.

Number of megacities continues to grow; over half are in Asia

The number of megacities—cities with 10 million or more inhabitants—has quadrupled from eight in 1975 to 33 in 2025, with 19 located in Asia. Projections indicate there will be 37 megacities globally by 2050, as populations in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Dar es Salaam (United Republic of Tanzania), Hajipur (India), and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) grow to over 10 million.

The total number of cities worldwide has more than doubled between 1975 and 2025. Among the world’s 12,000 cities, 96% have fewer than 1 million inhabitants, and 81% have populations below 250,000.

This distribution underscores that the majority of the world’s urban population resides not in megacities, but in small and medium-sized urban centers, which play a critical role in shaping sustainable urban development. By 2050, the world could have more than 15,000 cities, most with populations below 250,000.

Bilal9 · Dec 17, 2025

Dhaka Bypass Toll Expressway partially finished for now.

Bilal9 · Dec 17, 2025

Dhaka growing eastward - along Madani Avenue and Purbachal Expressway, still in construction

Bilal9 · Dec 17, 2025

Some upcoming and current mid-rises in Dhaka which are all around 40 stories tall.

Saif · Dec 17, 2025

Bilal9 said:
Some upcoming and current mid-rises in Dhaka which are all around 40 stories tall.

Paucity of land makes it imperative for the government to develop Dhaka vertically not horizontally.

Bilal9 · Dec 17, 2025

Saif said:
Paucity of land makes it imperative for the government to develop Dhaka vertically not horizontally.

More expensive in Dhaka to build high-rises. So - for now mid-rises only (up to maybe 45~50 stories) I guess.

Soil is rather soft, need deeper foundations. You can go down hundreds of feet and still find no baserock.

Plus nowadays there is Earthquake-proofing which need to be considered.

Anything above 45 stories needs to be steel framed with steel columns and girders.

I am surprised that they are still using RCC framing to build mid-rises above 30 stories which are a huge earthquake risk.

Bilal9 · Dec 17, 2025

Dhaka: The megacity no one planned for is now the world’s 2nd-largest

While Jakarta’s reign at the top is projected to be temporary, Dhaka’s ascent appears relentless. By 2050, the UN predicts Dhaka will claim the title of the world’s most populous city, home to an unfathomable 52.1 million souls

Dhaka severely lacks civic amenities compared to other megacities like Tokyo and Jakarta. Photo: TBS

Have you ever wondered why Western travel influencers flock to Dhaka, of all places? The Bangladeshi countryside, I get, but Dhaka? As a voracious consumer of travel content, yours truly has given it some thought and I think I have an answer.
https://vdo.ai/contact?utm_medium=video&utm_term=tbsnews.net&utm_source=vdoai_logo
To stand at a traffic intersection in Farmgate or wrestle through the human tide of Gulistan during rush hour is to witness a phenomenon that seemingly defies the laws of physics. It is a sensory assault of clamouring rickshaw bells, the cacophony of hundreds of vehicle horns, the hiss of dying buses idling, and a density of humanity that feels less like a city and more like a compression of an entire nation into a singular, painfully throbbing point.

For years, residents have felt the walls closing in, the air growing heavier and the roads becoming more gridlocked. Now, the United Nations has confirmed what every commuter in Bangladesh already knew in their bones: Dhaka is exploding.

According to the UN's recently released World Urbanization Prospects 2025, Dhaka has officially become the second-largest city on the planet. With a population now estimated at a staggering 36.6 million, the Bangladeshi capital has leapfrogged Tokyo — the former heavyweight champion of urban density — and sits just behind Jakarta, Indonesia, which holds the top spot with 41.9 million residents.

But while Jakarta's reign at the top is projected to be temporary, Dhaka's ascent appears relentless. By 2050, the UN predicts Dhaka will claim the title of the world's most populous city, home to an unfathomable 52.1 million souls.

A city bursting at the seams

Dhaka's expansion is not merely a story of natural urbanization or the allure of city lights; it is a story of survival. The city acts as the primary lifeboat for a nation on the frontlines of the global climate crisis. Every day, the city absorbs a floating population that arrives not just with dreams of prosperity, but often with the trauma of loss.

They flee the vanishing islands of the Meghna estuary, the salinized soil of the southwest, and the eroded riverbanks of the north. They end up in the sprawling slums of Korail or the precarious settlements of Kamrangirchar, trading the risk of drowning for the certainty of urban squalor.

The drivers of this migration are complex, fueled by a mixture of economic necessity and environmental collapse. The number of people migrating to Dhaka from villages and towns is increasing every day, a trend that demographers have watched with growing alarm.

Dhaka University's former Chair of the Department of Population Sciences, Mohammad Mainul Islam, explained several reasons behind this trend in an interview with Prothom Alo. He noted that the influx is overwhelming the natural birth rate of the city itself.

"The rate of migration from rural areas to Dhaka is more than twice our population growth rate," Mainul Islam told the newspaper. "Job opportunities in rural areas are very limited, so many come to Dhaka in search of work. People are also moving due to climate change–related environmental risks. As agricultural land shrinks, many landless people move to Dhaka. Besides, many come for education, healthcare, and other urban facilities."

This "push factor" creates a demographic pressure cooker. Unlike the urbanization of the West during the Industrial Revolution, which was driven by factory jobs pulling workers in, Dhaka's growth is largely driven by rural desperation pushing people out.

The result is a city that is growing faster than it can build, creating a disjointed urban fabric where luxury high-rises sit uncomfortably next to tin-roofed shanties.

The livability crisis

The statistics of Dhaka's sheer size mask the grim reality of its living standards. In the lexicon of urban planning, Dhaka is a "primate city" — it disproportionately dominates the country's economy and politics, hoarding resources while simultaneously collapsing under the demand for them. The infrastructure gap is not just wide; it is a chasm.

While cities like Tokyo and Seoul boast near-perfect sewage coverage and drinking water straight from the tap, Dhaka struggles to provide safe water to its periphery. The Buriganga River, the city's historical lifeline, is biologically dead, choked by tannery waste and untreated sewage, a dark mirror of the city's struggle to manage its own waste.

The pressure on housing and basic services has reached a breaking point. Uswatun Mahera, Assistant Professor in the Department of Local Government and Urban Development at Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, highlighted the systemic failure in comments to the Bangladeshi press. She painted a stark picture of the logistical nightmare facing city planners.

"Every year, about 500,000 people come to Dhaka. Arranging housing for them has become a major challenge," Uswatun Mahera told Prothom Alo. "The increasing population is polluting Dhaka's air and water. Services like transport and waste management are becoming ineffective. Unplanned expansion is obstructing the ability to meet citizens' basic needs."

This lack of execution is visible in every corner of the metropolis. The city's air quality index frequently tops the global charts for toxicity, a hazardous haze that settles over the city in winter.

The amenity-shaped hole in Dhaka's beating heart

To understand the severity of Dhaka's position, one must look at what a city of 36 million should look like compared to what Dhaka is. When compared to its peers on the UN list, Dhaka lags significantly in public amenities. Tokyo, with 33.4 million people, moves millions daily through one of the world's most complex and efficient rail networks.

Dhaka, with a larger population, has only recently inaugurated its first Metro Rail line. While a step in the right direction, it is a drop in the ocean for a city of this magnitude. The vast majority of the population still relies on a chaotic fleet of crumbling buses and rickshaws, leading to gridlock that eats up an estimated significant percentage of the country's GDP annually in lost working hours.

Beyond the roads, the city's environmental amenities reveal an even deeper crisis. Global urban standards suggest that a livable city requires approximately nine square metres of green space per resident to mitigate heat and provide psychological relief. Dhaka offers barely a fraction of a square metre.

The city has become a heat-trapping labyrinth of concrete and glass, where the "urban heat island" effect makes the humid summers feel lethal. While residents in Shanghai or Seoul can access manicured public parks and riverfront promenades, Dhaka's children are growing up in a city where playgrounds are being cannibalized by real estate developers

Furthermore, water security remains a looming threat. The UN report notes that severe water shortages are already plaguing cities like Tehran, where authorities have introduced rationing for its nine million residents.

Dhaka faces a paradoxical dual threat: the depletion of its groundwater table due to excessive extraction and the risk of flooding from poor drainage. The city is sucking its aquifers dry while simultaneously failing to manage stormwater, leading to waterlogging after even moderate rains that brings the city to a standstill.

A tale of two cities: Jakarta and Dhaka

The comparison with Jakarta, the only city currently larger than Dhaka, offers a terrifying cautionary tale. Jakarta is sinking — literally. Excessive groundwater extraction and rising sea levels threaten to submerge a quarter of the Indonesian capital by 2050.

The crisis is so severe that the Indonesian government has taken the radical step of building a completely new capital, Nusantara, on the island of Borneo. They are effectively retreating from their megacity.

Bangladesh, however, does not have the luxury of a Borneo. It is a land-scarce delta where every square inch is contested. Dhaka cannot be abandoned; it must be fixed. Yet, the trajectory is ominous. While Jakarta is projected to shrink back to second place by 2050 as its population stabilizes, Dhaka is projected to keep growing, absorbing another 15 million people.

This divergence suggests that while other megacities are reaching a plateau or actively managing their density, Dhaka is still in the accelerating phase of its growth curve, with little safety net in place.

Decentralize or die

If Dhaka is to avoid the dystopian future predicted by the 2050 data, it must undergo a radical transformation in how it is governed and planned.

The consensus among experts is that the current model of centralization is unsustainable. Hospitals, universities, high courts, and corporate headquarters are all clustered within the capital, creating an unbreakable magnetic pull.

Professor Mainul Islam was emphatic about the need for a structural overhaul.

Recommending the formulation of a new urban policy, he told the local press, "All institutions related to public services need to be strengthened. At the same time, commercial activities must be relocated outside Dhaka."

This sentiment echoes a long-standing demand from urban planners: until the government decentralizes power and economy to secondary cities like Chittagong, Sylhet, or Khulna, the migration flow will never stem.

Moreover, the approach to urban planning must shift from reactive to proactive. It is not enough to build flyovers after the traffic has already choked the roads.

"Sustainable and integrated planning is required," says Uswatun Mahera. She argues that the state cannot leave the development of the city to private interests and chaotic market forces. "A sustainable and coordinated plan is essential to solve this. The government must take the lead," the urban planner added.

It is painfully obvious the crisis is not coming; it is already here. The preparations to house, feed, and transport the next 15 million people should have begun yesterday, and without immediate government intervention, the world's next largest city may well become its most unlivable.