Population census: Barishal leads Dhaka migration, Ctg tops in immigration

Infographic: TBS

Barishal tops all the divisions in terms of migration to Dhaka with 18.62% of its locals currently residing in the densely populated capital city, according to a report of the Population and Housing Census 2022.

After Barishal, Mymensingh is the second division with the most migrants to Dhaka, with 14.43% of its locals living in the capital. 
Rangpur, Chattogram, and Rajshahi follow with lower percentages. Sylhet has the lowest percentage of migrants to Dhaka, followed by Khulna.

Dr Mohammad Mainul Islam, professor and former chairman of Population Sciences at the University of Dhaka, told The Business Standard, "Poverty is the major factor driving migration to Dhaka as they have easy communication access with low cost.

"Those who come from Barishal are mainly low-income people in terms of per capita income and they come in search of work. Also, environmental hazards such as flooding can be a driving factor." 

Mentioning climate change as a reason, Dr Islam said, "A number of climate displaced people are increasing and in future it will be a big threat in our population dynamics as somehow the impact of climate change has been experiencing in many regions of the country."

Citing data from an urban health survey, he further said, "People who are living in slum in Dhaka and Chattogram, mostly originated from Barishal."

The country's sixth census report, released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) last week, also revealed that over 50.5 lakh Bangladeshi citizens are living abroad, with the highest number coming from Chattogram.

Of them, 20.5 lakh or 40.61% of the Bangladeshi citizens who are living abroad are from Chattogram, surpassing all other divisions. 
Dhaka comes second with 28.32%, followed by Sylhet (11.34%), Khulna (6.07%), Rajshahi (5.33%), Mymensingh (3.05%), and Barishal (3%). Rangpur has the lowest percentage of overseas migrants at 2.28%.

Asif Munier, a migration expert and ILO consultant, explained that people from Chittagong division who used to run small businesses tend to migrate to the Middle East. He added that this trend has been prevalent for several generations.

When Bangladesh began exporting manpower in the mid-1970s, people from Chattogram and Dhaka secured most of the job opportunities abroad, said Dr Tasneem Siddiqui, founding chair of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), while talking to TBS last year.

"Once they were abroad and gained experience, they played a significant role in employing more people from their respective areas," Dr Siddiqui said.

"The early migrants brought their acquaintances abroad later, thus forming a strong network in these districts," she added.