List of cities and towns in Bangladesh


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.
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. 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. Together, Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong account for 48% of the country's urban population.
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. 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 not governed by any Municipal Corporation or "Paurashava". These are the non-Municipal Corporation or "non-Paurashava" towns.
In 1951, Bangladesh was mostly a rural country and only 4% of the population lived in urban centres. The urban population rose to 19% in 1991 and to 26% by 2005. As of 2011, Bangladesh has an urban population of 28%. 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, whereas the rural density is significantly lower: 790 persons per square kilometer. The number of municipalities have tripled from 104 municipalities in 1991 to 318 municipalities in 2011.

Major cities

There are 11 major cities in Bangladesh which are governed by 12 City Corporations. These are: Dhaka North, Dhaka South, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Comilla, Barisal, Rangpur, Gazipur and Narayanganj. Among these, Dhaka is a megacity, governed by 2 City Corporations.
RankCityAreaPopulation DistrictDivision
1.Dhaka3168,906,039DhakaDhaka Division
2.Chittagong1552,592,439ChittagongChittagong Division
3.Rajshahi97763,952RajshahiRajshahi Division
4.Mymensingh91.315476,543MymensinghMymensingh Division
5.Khulna51664,728KhulnaKhulna Division
6.Sylhet42526,412SylhetSylhet Division
7.Barisal69339,308BarisalBarisal Division
8.Rangpur50.69307,053RangpurRangpur Division
9.Comilla23.44296,010ComillaChittagong Division
10.Narayanganj12.69286,330NarayanganjDhaka Division
11.Gazipur47.23213,061GazipurDhaka Division

Gallery of major cities in Bangladesh

Metropolitan areas

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 eight metropolitan areas of Bangladesh are the Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, Sylhet, Gazipur and Rangpur metropolitan areas.

Cities

These are other cities of Bangladesh which are governed by Municipal Corporations.
RankCityAreaPopulationDistrictDivision
1.Bogra69.56540,000BograRajshahi Division
2.Kushtia42.79418,322KushtiaKhulna Division
3.Jessore28.56237,478JessoreKhulna Division
4.Cox's Bazar24.45223,522Cox's BazarChittagong Division
5.Manikganj42.28200,000ManikganjDhaka Division
6.Brahmanbaria22.49193,814BrahmanbariaChittagong Division
7.Dinajpur22.00191,329DinajpurRangpur Division
8.Nawabganj32.09180,731Chapai NawabganjRajshahi Division
9.Tangail33.80167,412TangailDhaka Division
10.Sirajganj31.27167,200SirajganjRajshahi Division
11.Chandpur22159,021ChandpurChittagong Division
12.Feni22.00156,971FeniChittagong Division
13.Jamalpur55.25150,172JamalpurMymensingh Division
14.Naogaon38.36150,025NaogaonRajshahi Division
15.Narsingdi14.8146,115NarsingdiDhaka Division
16.Pabna27.27144,442PabnaRajshahi Division
17.Maijdee23.79130,842NoakhaliChittagong Division
18.Faridpur19.78122,425FaridpurDhaka Division
19.Jhenaidah39.63110,541JhenaidahKhulna Division

Source: 2011 Bangladesh census

Gallery of some municipal cities

Towns

The following is a list of towns in Bangladesh governed by Municipal Corporations.
DivisionNumberTowns
Barisal Division21
Chittagong Division27
Dhaka Division23
Khulna Division9
Mymensingh Division13
Rajshahi Division15
Rangpur Division7
Sylhet Division9

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 while Khulna is the third largest metropolitan in Bangladesh. Other major cities with a population of more than 300,000 include Mymensingh, Narayanganj, Sylhet, Rajshahi,Rangpur,Bogra, Barisal and Comilla. The following table shows the largest populated area within a local government area.