List of cities and towns in Bangladesh

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v t

This article presents a list of cities and towns in Bangladesh. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives of Bangladesh, there are 532 urban centres in Bangladesh.^[1][2]

Dhaka

Chittagong

Sylhet

Rangpur

Mymensingh

Rajshahi

Khulna

Barisal

Sirajganj

Bogura

Location of 10 largest cities in Bangladesh

The bureau defines an urban centre with a population of 100,000 or more as a "city". Altogether, there are 42 such cities in Bangladesh. 11 of these cities can be considered major cities as these are governed by "City Corporations". All of the "City Corporation"-governed cities currently have a population of more than 200,000 (which is not a criterion for the status). Besides the 11 major cities, there are 31 other cities in Bangladesh that are not governed by "City Corporations", rather by "Municipal Corporations". A city with a population of more than 5,000,000 is defined by the bureau as a "megacity". Dhaka is the only megacity in Bangladesh according to this definition.^[3] Together, Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong account for 48% of the country's urban population.^[4]

An urban centre with a population of less than 100,000 is defined as a "town". In total, there are 490 such towns in Bangladesh.^[3] Among these, 287 towns are governed by "Municipal Corporations". These are called "Paurashava"s in the local Bengali language. Altogether, including the ones governing 31 non-major cities, there are 318 Municipal Corporations.

In addition, there are another 203 towns which are Upazila centres (and other urban centres) and not governed by any Municipal Corporation or "Paurashava". These are the non-Municipal Corporation or "non-Paurashava" towns.^[3][2]

In 1951, Bangladesh was mostly a rural country and only 4% of the population lived in urban centres. The urban population rose to 20% in 1991 and to 24% by 2001. As of 2011, Bangladesh has an urban population of 28%.^[3] The rate of urban population growth is estimated at 2.8%. At this growth rate, Bangladesh's urban population will reach 79 million or 42% of the population by 2035. The urban centers of Bangladesh have a combined area of about 10600 square kilometers, which is 7% of the total area of Bangladesh. As such, Bangladesh has a very high urban population density: 4028 persons per square kilometer (2011), whereas the rural density is significantly lower: 790 persons per square kilometer (2011).^[1] The number of municipalities have tripled from 104 municipalities in 1991 to 318 municipalities in 2011.^[4]

Eight (8) of the aforementioned major cities are also part of eight bigger metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas can be loosely defined as a major city combined with some of its adjacent municipalities and peri-urban areas. The eight metropolitan areas of Bangladesh are the Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, Sylhet, Gazipur and Rangpur metropolitan areas.

Major cities and metropolitan areas[]

There are eleven major cities in Bangladesh that are governed by twelve city corporations, which include Dhaka North, Dhaka South, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Comilla, Gazipur, Mymensingh, Barisal, Rangpur, and Narayanganj. Among these, Dhaka is a megacity, governed by two city corporations, and has a population of around 9 million. It was formerly governed by the Dhaka City Corporation, until it was split into North and South in 2011. Eight of the aforementioned major cities are also part of eight bigger metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas can be loosely defined as a major city combined with some of its adjacent municipalities and peri-urban areas. The populations of the cities are from the 2011 census.

Rank	City	Area(km2)[3]	Population (2011)[3]	District	Division	Photos
1.	Dhaka	316	8,906,039	Dhaka	Dhaka Division
2.	Chittagong	155	2,592,439	Chittagong	Chittagong Division
3.	Khulna	51	664,728	Khulna	Khulna Division
4.	Sylhet	42	531,663	Sylhet	Sylhet Division
5.	Rajshahi	97	5,51,425	Rajshahi	Rajshahi Division
6.	Mymensingh	71	389,918	Mymensingh	Mymensingh Division
7.	Barisal	69	339,308	Barisal	Barisal Division
8.	Rangpur	51	307,053	Rangpur	Rangpur Division
9.	Comilla	23	5,06,010	Comilla	Chittagong Division
10.	Narayanganj	13	286,330	Narayanganj	Dhaka Division
11.	Gazipur	47	213,061	Gazipur	Dhaka Division

Cities[]

In addition to the 11 major cities governed by City Corporations, there are 32 other cities which are governed by Municipal Corporations. These are given below in alphabetical order.

City	Area (km2)	Population (2011 census)	District	Division	Image
Bhairab	15.71	118,992	Kishoreganj	Dhaka Division
Bogra	68.63	400,983	Bogra	Rajshahi Division
Brahmanbaria	22.49	193,814	Brahmanbaria	Chittagong Division
Chandpur	26.82	171,065	Chandpur	Chittagong Division
Chowmuhani	35.50	132,948	Noakhali	Chittagong Division
Chuadanga	69.02	128,865	Chuadanga	Khulna Division
Comilla Sadar Dakshin	31.01	111,891	Comilla	Chittagong Division
Cox's Bazar	24.45	223,522	Cox's Bazar	Chittagong Division
Dinajpur	22.00	191,329	Dinajpur	Rangpur Division
Faridpur	19.78	122,425	Faridpur	Dhaka Division
Feni	22.00	156,971	Feni	Chittagong Division
Jamalpur	55.25	150,172	Jamalpur	Mymensingh Division
Jessore	28.56	237,478	Jessore	Khulna Division
Jhenaidah	44.33	110,541	Jhenaidah	Khulna Division
	11.28	166,291	Narayanganj	Dhaka Division
Kaliakair	27.16	163,498	Gazipur	Dhaka Division
Kishoreganj	11.30	103,798	Kishoreganj	Dhaka Division
Kushtia	14.49	108,423	Kushtia	Khulna Division
Maijdee	23.79	130,842	Noakhali	Chittagong Division
Naogaon	37.08	150,025	Naogaon	Rajshahi Division
Narsingdi	20.95	185,128	Narsingdi	Dhaka Division
Nawabganj	32.90	180,731	Chapai Nawabganj	Rajshahi Division
Pabna	27.27	144,442	Pabna	Rajshahi Division
Saidpur	30.04	133,433	Nilphamari	Rangpur Division
Satkhira	32.39	113,322	Satkhira	Khulna Division
Savar	13.54	296,851	Dhaka	Dhaka Division
Siddhirganj	22.71	256,760	Narayanganj	Dhaka Division
Sirajganj	31.27	167,200	Sirajganj	Rajshahi Division
Sreepur	46.90	126,249	Gazipur	Dhaka Division
Tangail	33.80	167,412	Tangail	Dhaka Division
Tarabo	19.39	150,709	Narayanganj	Dhaka Division
Tongi	32.07	406,420	Gazipur	Dhaka Division

Source: 2011 Bangladesh census^[5]

Towns[]

The following is a list of towns in Bangladesh governed by Municipal Corporations.

Urban areas by population[]

Dhaka is by far the largest urban area as well as the largest metropolitan area in Bangladesh. Chittagong is the second largest city and urban area in Bangladesh as well as second largest metropolitan in Bangladesh. Other major cities with a population of more than 300,000 include Khulna,Sylhet,Rajshahi, Rangpur, Bogra, Barisal, Comilla, Gazipur,Narayanganj and Mymensingh. The following table shows the largest populated area within a local government area.

v t Largest cities or towns in Bangladesh "National Volume-3: Urban Area Report" (PDF), Population and Housing Census 2011, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, pp. 24–25, August 2014
	Rank	Name	Division	Pop.
Dhaka Chittagong	1	Dhaka	Dhaka	8,906,039	Khulna Sylhet
	2	Chittagong	Chittagong	2,592,439
	3	Khulna	Khulna	664,728
	4	Sylhet	Sylhet	531,663
	5	Rajshahi	Rajshahi	451,425
	6	Bogra	Rajshahi	400,983
	7	Mymensingh	Mymensingh	389,918
	8	Barisal	Barisal	339,308
	9	Rangpur	Rangpur	307,053
	10	Sirajganj	Rajshahi	297,230

See also[]

• List of City Corporations of Bangladesh
• List of Municipal Corporations of Bangladesh
• List of villages in Bangladesh
• List of cities in Asia

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cities in Bangladesh.

• Principal cities and municipalities in Bangladesh
• International city telephone codes for Bangladesh
• Bangladesh postal codes
• List of Bangladesh cities
• The Paurashava Ordinance 1977