Cost of Living in Bangladesh
Image credit: Wasiul Bahar
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Bangladesh: $8,487/capita.
Cities in Bangladesh
Income Category
Happiness
3.9 / 10
#127 globally
GDP per Capita
Population
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 77% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Child Education
Public-school quality, expat access, instruction language, and homeschool legality for relocating families.
Public schools
How realistic the local public-school path is for a relocating family in Bangladesh.
Quality
Limited public-school fit
Expat access
Possible, but a hard fit for expats
hardInstruction
Bangla
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
Bangladesh has a large public system with meaningful variation between urban and rural schools. Dhaka has far stronger private and international options than the state system for families wanting predictable English-friendly schooling.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident foreign families may be able to enroll, but Bangla-medium instruction and uneven infrastructure make the public route difficult for most internationally mobile households.
❓ Homeschooling
Not specifically regulatedBangladesh requires compulsory primary education but does not have a specific homeschooling framework. Many expat families in Dhaka homeschool through accredited foreign programs without interference. No formal registration or approval process exists.
Homeschool legality in Bangladesh — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Childcare & Domestic Help
Current city samples for the family-support costs we track in Bangladesh.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$180-$275
1 tracked city, not a national average
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$300-$450
1 tracked city, not a national average
Source: curated family relocation research
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Bangladesh.
Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.
Healthcare system
LimitedCoverage looks thinner, doctor staffing is lighter, and hospital capacity looks tighter weigh on this rating.
Public care
LimitedPublic coverage looks thinner, public funding looks lighter, and patients still shoulder a meaningful share of costs weigh on this rating.
Private care
GoodA large tracked hospital and clinic network and a clearly private facility base help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
54/100
2023
Physicians
0.72/1k
2023
Hospital beds
0.92/1k
2023
Out of pocket
79%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
74.9 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
115/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
17.9/1k
2024
International patient readiness
MixedA visible private hospital base and multiple facilities have websites help, but price transparency is still sparse and headline outcomes are less reassuring.
Pricing transparency
LimitedMultiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Bangladesh yet.
This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.
Notable facilities
System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01
Safety & Governance
Street Safety
Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.
Political Stability
World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.
Wages by Sector
| Sector | Median |
|---|---|
| Administrative & Support Services | — |
| Agriculture & Farming | — |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | — |
| Construction | — |
| Education | — |
| Finance & Insurance | — |
| Healthcare & Social Work | — |
| Hospitality & Food Service | — |
| Information & Technology | — |
| Manufacturing | — |
| Mining & Quarrying | — |
| Other Services | — |
| Professional & Scientific Services | — |
| Public Administration & Defence | — |
| Real Estate | — |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | — |
| Transport & Logistics | — |
| Utilities | — |
2024 annual wages in Bangladesh · Source: ILO ILOSTAT
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival.
About Bangladesh
Bangladesh is a lower-middle-income South Asian country where Dhaka drives most expat logistics, from private healthcare to improving digital connectivity. Costs are extremely low, even against the regional average: a comfortable expat lifestyle is documented around $400-600 per month, which makes budgeting attractive but should not be confused with friction-free living. Bengali is the official language, while English is widely spoken in urban areas, so daily setup is easier in Dhaka than outside major cities. Relocators should weigh the tropical monsoon climate, with hot humidity and heavy June-September rains, alongside uneven infrastructure. Private hospitals in Dhaka can be good, but standards vary, and safety requires normal city caution: petty crime is common, violent crime is rare. Visas are moderately complex, with business routes generally easier than tourist entry.
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Common questions about Bangladesh
Sourced from SortaRich's public-data ranking engine — every figure links to its institutional source.
Is Bangladesh a good country to live in?
Bangladesh is a lower-rated country to live in per the World Happiness Report (3.9 of 10, ranking #127 globally). Whether it's right for you depends on your priorities — use SortaRich's free quiz to see how Bangladesh ranks for your specific income, family, and visa profile.
Sources: World Happiness Report, SortaRich Methodology
How much does it cost to live in Bangladesh?
The cost of living in Bangladesh is about 77% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), with an overall cost-of-living index of 23. SortaRich personalizes these numbers to your home city's purchasing power so the comparison is real, not nominal.
Sources: SortaRich Cost of Living, World Bank ICP 2021
How far does $1 go in Bangladesh?
$1 goes about 4.1x further in Bangladesh than in the baseline market — your home-country income stretches that much more (current PPP ratio: 4.11). The figure adjusts every year as exchange rates and local prices shift. SortaRich uses World Bank ICP 2021 as the anchor and Penn World Tables 11.0 for cross-validation.
Sources: World Bank ICP 2021, Penn World Tables 11.0
What visa do I need to move to Bangladesh?
To move to Bangladesh you have these visa options: Tourist entry: visa_on_arrival. Visa rules change frequently — confirm the current terms with the official immigration authority before booking flights.
Source: SortaRich Visa Database
What are the best cities to live in Bangladesh?
The best cities to live in Bangladesh are Dhaka, Chittagong — those are the most-searched options among the 2 cities profiled in the SortaRich database. Each city page includes a personalized PPP comparison versus your home city plus subnational price data where available.
Source: SortaRich City Index