Income in Bangladesh
The median income in Bangladesh is about $4.92 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars) — richer than 31% of everyone alive. Half of Bangladesh lives on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the top 20% of Bangladesh.
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The curve
Daily income per person, log scale, PPP dollars — the same curve the machine walks you across.
What it takes to stand where
Take-home income per person, in today's BDT, at each point on the curve of Bangladesh (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of Bangladesh | BDT 41,244 | $2.72 |
| 25% of Bangladesh | BDT 54,285 | $3.58 |
| 50% of Bangladesh | BDT 74,604 | $4.92 |
| 75% of Bangladesh | BDT 106,675 | $7.04 |
| 90% of Bangladesh | BDT 153,454 | $10 |
| 99% of Bangladesh | BDT 379,085 | $25 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in Bangladesh
How much of Bangladesh and of the world lives on each of four income levels. The cuts are the World Bank's $3.00 (international poverty line) and $8.30 (upper-middle-income line), both 2021 PPP; the top cut, $33, is the machine's own, four times the $8.30 line. The objects are what an income on each level tends to buy across the world's surveys — not a description of any one country.
| Level | per day (PPP $) | What tends to come with it, worldwide | Bangladesh | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | 14% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 69% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 17% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | <1% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayBangladesh 14% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayBangladesh 69% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayBangladesh 17% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayBangladesh <1% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 69% of Bangladesh lives on Level 2, between $3.00 and $8.30 a day per person; worldwide, about 39% of people do.
The line that moved
In Bangladesh, 51% lived under the $3.00 line at the 1991 survey; 5.9% at the 2022 one — a fall of 45 points in 31 years.
Share of Bangladesh under $3.00 a day (2021 prices) at each national survey, World Bank PIP via Our World in Data; the faint line is the world's.
Worldwide, the share under the World Bank's $3.00-a-day line fell from about 43% in 1990 to about 10% today (Our World in Data; the latest years are the Bank's nowcast). Where the lift came, it came the unglamorous way: wages, harvests, workshops.
Who earns what in Bangladesh
8 portraits, not payroll data: each stands roughly where that kind of work typically earns on the curve of Bangladesh.
| the lowest 10% | the earnings of a landless farm labourer — the delta’s hardest job |
|---|---|
| 10–25% | the earnings of a garment worker in Dhaka — sewing labels the whole world wears |
| 25–45% | the earnings of a cycle-rickshaw driver — the city’s quiet engine |
| 45–65% | the earnings of a small shopkeeper |
| 65–82% | the earnings of a schoolteacher |
| 82–93% | the earnings of a bank officer in Dhaka |
| 93–98% | the earnings of a doctor |
| the highest 2% | the earnings of a garment-factory owner — exports on every continent |
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for Bangladesh (survey year 2022), in 2021 PPP dollars; incomes typed in today's money are deflated to 2021 prices with the national CPI and converted with the 2021 consumption-PPP factor. Snapshot fetched September 2026. Full methodology & honesty rules.
Neighbours on the curve
The countries whose median income sits nearest to Bangladesh's — and a few far from it, for scale.