Bangladesh

Economy & income

Currency

• Bangladeshi taka (BDT, ৳)
• ~123.25 per USD (14 Jul 2026, TradingEconomics) — managed float, the taka has gradually weakened (~1.4% over the last 12 months) as reserves stayed tight
• USD is often scarce at the official rate

GDP per capita

• ~$2,650 nominal (2025 est., IMF WEO / Worldometer; total GDP ~$460bn — South Asia's 2nd-largest economy after India; growth slowed to ~3.5% in 2025 amid post-2024 political transition, rebounding toward 5–6%)
• ~$9,900 PPP (2025 est.) rising to ~$10,850 (2026 est.)

Average salary

• ~$150 net/mo at the low end (wage.is ৳18,000, May 2026)
• other estimates put the average at ~৳23,000–26,000 ≈ $185–210/mo gross (worldsalaries/paylab 2025)
• Numbeo's Bangladesh sample is thin (flag)
• The large majority work informally and earn well below any formal-sector average

Median salary

• n/a — no clean official national median wage is published
• ~85% of employment is informal (BBS Labour Force Survey), largely uncaptured, so formal-sector means overstate typical earnings

Minimum wage

• No universal national minimum wage — set sector by sector
• The garment/RMG floor is ৳12,500/mo ≈ ~$101/mo (in force since Dec 2023, a ~56% rise and first revision since 2018)
• unions demanded ৳23,000–25,000 and call it a below-living wage
• Most sectors have no statutory floor

Cost of living

• Low — Numbeo consumer prices sit far below Western levels (cheap food, rent, transport)
• the Numbeo/Expatistan sample for Bangladesh is thin (flag, Jun 2026)
• Elevated inflation (~9% through 2025–26) has raised local cost pressure

Digital landscape

Population

176 million (Oct 2025, DataReportal Digital 2026 Bangladesh; ~41.6% urban / 58.4% rural) — the world's 8th-most-populous country and very densely packed

Internet users

47.0% (~82.8M users, Oct 2025; up from 44.5%/77.7M in Jan 2025 — a large ~53% offline majority remains)

Social media users

36.3% (~64.0M identities, Oct 2025; ~37% female / 63% male — a wide male skew) = 77%+ of internet users

Mobile connections

• 186M cellular connections = 105% of pop (Oct 2025)
• ~65% of connections are mobile broadband (3G/4G/5G)
• >98% of Facebook access is via mobile

Devices

• mobile ~50.8% / desktop ~48.8% / tablet ~0.4% (StatCounter, Jun 2026) — the very high desktop reading is a measurement artifact (shared PCs, cybercafés, office/proxy traffic)
• real personal access is overwhelmingly mobile-first (~91% Android)

Ad spend

• No clean official total
• Statista's outlook puts the pure digital-advertising market at ~$417M (2024) inside a small overall ad market
• a ResearchAndMarkets 'Digital Ad Spend' business report cites a far larger ~$3.45bn (2025) → ~$3.8bn (2026, +10.1%) on a broader definition — treat the high figure with caution (flag)
• Social/Meta & online video dominate digital

Top social platforms

Facebook ~64.0M — utterly dominant; for most Bangladeshis Facebook ≈ 'the internet', plus F-commerce

TikTok ~56.2M 18+ ad reach — fast-surging youth platform; note ad-tool reach is inflated & TikTok has faced periodic blocks

YouTube ~49.8M — video, music, drama, how-to

Messenger ~35.0M — primary 1:1 & group chat, tied to Facebook

LinkedIn ~12.0M members — professional/B2B, urban

Instagram ~9.15M — small, urban/aspirational & English-leaning

X/Twitter ~1.17M — tiny, niche

Messengers

• Facebook Messenger (~35.0M — the default chat app, bundled with Facebook)
• imo (huge in Bangladesh — low-data international voice/video calls to the Gulf/Malaysia/UK migrant diaspora)
• WhatsApp (present & growing but well behind Messenger/imo)
• Telegram (growing — piracy, betting tips, crypto P2P & deal channels)
• Viber (declining); bKash/Nagad are the ubiquitous money layer alongside chat

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Mobile Financial Services (MFS) wallets — the dominant digital rail; bKash is the market leader (~80M verified users), Nagad #2 (state-linked), Rocket (DBBL) & Upay follow. Top-4 hold 95%+ of MFS; bKash alone does ~11M txns/day
• Cash-on-delivery (COD) — still the default/most-trusted e-commerce method nationally, especially outside big cities (large unbanked base, low trust after 2021 e-com scams)
• Cards — Visa/Mastercard/local; a small, mostly urban share of e-commerce; gateways SSLCommerz, aamarPay, ShurjoPay power online checkout
• Internet/mobile banking & QR (Bangla QR) — growing among the banked urban middle class

E-wallets

• bKash
• Nagad
• Rocket (DBBL)
• Upay
• SureCash; gateways: SSLCommerz, aamarPay, ShurjoPay

Cash on delivery

High — COD remains the preferred e-commerce method nationally, but a notable bottom-up shift is under way: mobile-wallet (bKash/Nagad) prepay is now ~40–55% of online transactions in Dhaka & major cities and rising

E-commerce

• Low-to-moderate but growing fast (~$7–9bn 2025–26)
• Daraz leads
• trust was dented by the 2021 Evaly/e-orange collapses
• last-mile logistics (Pathao, Steadfast, RedX, Paperfly) are improving

Notes

• Wallet-first + COD market — any offer/checkout MUST support bKash/Nagad and cash-on-delivery
• Cards are marginal
• MFS wallets double as the P2P settlement rail for grey betting & crypto too

Audience & culture

Languages

• Bengali/Bangla (official & near-universal, ~99% — essential for all creative)
• English (business, higher education & the urban elite — understood in ads, but Bangla converts)
• Regional dialects — Chittagonian, Sylheti (Sylheti is big in the UK diaspora), Rangpuri, Chakma & others

Religion

Muslim ~91.0% (overwhelmingly Sunni; Islam is the state religion), Hindu ~7.95%, Buddhist ~0.61%, Christian ~0.30%, others (2022 census) — socially conservative

Median age

26.0 years (DataReportal, Jan 2025) — young and fast-urbanising

Key seasons

• Ramadan + Eid al-Fitr (the single biggest shopping & spend window — clothing, gifts, food, travel)
• Eid al-Adha ('Qurbani' — cattle & the 2nd-biggest spend)
• Pohela Boishakh (Bengali New Year, 14 Apr — huge cultural & retail moment)
• Durga Puja (Hindu, Oct)
• Winter wedding season (Nov–Feb)
• Cricket tournaments (BPL, Asia Cup, ICC World Cups — engagement & betting spikes)
• Victory Day (16 Dec) / Independence Day (26 Mar); Black Friday & 11.11/12.12 (Daraz)

Cultural notes

• Young, mobile-first & Facebook-centric (Facebook ≈ the internet; F-commerce via FB pages/Messenger + COD is a massive informal channel)
• Cricket is the #1 national passion & engagement driver
• Strong Gulf/Malaysia/UK migrant diaspora & remittances (imo calls, Nagad/bKash inflows) shape behaviour
• Highly price-sensitive
• family/community & religion central
• keep creative modest & Bengali

Where to find creators

• Facebook (dominant)
• YouTube
• TikTok
• Instagram (smaller/urban)
• StarNgage / Favikon / HypeAuditor rankings

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Ayman Sadiq ~3.1M YouTube

YouTubeEducation/edtech — founder of 10 Minute School; highly brand-safe, youth & parents

Iftekhar Rafsan (Rafsan TheChotoBhai) ~3.4M YouTube

YouTubeFood, cars & lifestyle vlogs — one of the top brand-deal creators

T

Tawhid Afridi ~6.4M YouTube

YouTubeTravel vlogs, challenges & entertainment — one of BD's biggest personal channels

P

Prottoy Heron (Ajaira LTD) ~4.7M YouTube

YouTubeComedy/drama sketch team — huge Gen-Z/youth appeal

R

Rakib Hossain ~15.7M YouTube

YouTubeFamily & daily-life vlogging — mass rural+urban reach

T

Tawhid Hossain (Roxman) ~4.0M YouTube

YouTubeFree Fire gaming & viral reels — young male gaming audience

S

Salman Muqtadir (SalMoN TheBrownFish) ~1.6M YouTube

YouTubeVlogs & music — a pioneer BD YouTuber, brand-friendly

Celebrities

S

Shakib Al Hasan ~16M Facebook / ~3M Instagram

Cricket — one of the greatest all-rounders ever; a national icon & top brand endorser

Shakib Khan ~huge Facebook / ~0.67M Instagram

Dhallywood film superstar — the biggest name in Bangladeshi cinema

Mehazabien Chowdhury ~5.7M Instagram

Actress & model — top female star of TV/OTT dramas

Pori Moni ~16M Facebook

Film actress — one of the most-followed (and most-talked-about) celebrities

Tamim Iqbal ~2.6M Facebook

Cricket — star opening batsman & former captain; major sports icon

Jaya Ahsan ~2.7M Instagram

Acclaimed actress across Bangladesh & Indian (Bengali) cinema — prestige appeal

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• iGaming / sports betting (cricket-driven — the biggest grey money despite the ban)
• Nutra COD (weight-loss, potency, antifungal, joint, hair — grey health claims)
• Sweepstakes & CPI app installs
• Dating (mainstream/heterosexual only)
• Finance (nano-loans, remittance, forex — grey)
• E-commerce COD (gadgets, fashion, beauty)
• Crypto (grey/underground)

Active networks

• Betting/iGaming affiliate programs — 1xBet Partners, Melbet, Betwinner, Baji/Krikya partners (offshore, grey but big local money)
• Global CPA & push/pop networks — Adsterra, PropellerAds, RichAds, Monetag, Galaksion, Mobidea
• Daraz Affiliate Program (e-commerce) + F-commerce/agency arbitrage
• Nutra CPA / COD (Dr.Cash-style) & multivertical — few Bangladesh-only networks

Payouts

• Tier-3 low payouts — betting FTD CPA ~$5–25 (RevShare common given LTV)
• nutra COD carries low AOV + high delivery-rejection (returns eat margin)
• CPI installs cents
• finance CPL low (~$0.2–2)
• Taka depreciation squeezes local-currency payouts

Competition

• High volume with very cheap CPM/CPC — among the cheapest traffic in Asia (below India/Pakistan)
• heavy grey-vertical presence, quality/fraud risk, and a Facebook-dominated buy

Seasonality

• Cricket calendars (BPL Jan–Feb, Asia Cup, World Cups) spike betting
• Ramadan/Eid spike e-commerce & late-night content
• Pohela Boishakh & winter weddings lift retail
• remittance/salary cycles matter

Traffic sources

• Facebook / Meta ads (dominant)
• TikTok (youth)
• Push & pop (Adsterra, PropellerAds, RichAds)
• Facebook groups/pages & Telegram channels
• Google / YouTube & SEO
• In-app & SMS; VPN-driven flows for betting

Good to know

Capital

Dhaka

Major cities

• Dhaka
• Chattogram (Chittagong)
• Khulna
• Rajshahi
• Sylhet
• Barishal
• Rangpur
• Cumilla (Comilla)
• Gazipur
• Narayanganj
• Mymensingh

Time zones

Single zone — Bangladesh Standard Time (BST, UTC+6), no daylight saving

Android vs iOS

91%

Android 91% iOS 9%

Phone brands

• Samsung (~24.7%)
• Xiaomi (~17.7%)
• Apple (~9.2%)
• Vivo (~7.5%)
• Realme (~6.7%)
• Oppo / Transsion budget (Tecno·Infinix·itel) & local brands Symphony/Walton (StatCounter, Jun 2026)

Top e-commerce

• Daraz (leader, Alibaba-owned — COD + digital pay)
• Chaldal (online grocery)
• Pickaboo (electronics)
• Rokomari (books)
• Pathao (ride/food/shop)
• Facebook-page social commerce ('F-commerce' — huge informal channel)

Peak activity

Evenings ~19:00–23:00 BST (peak ~19:00–21:00) plus a lunch bump ~12:00–14:00; during Ramadan activity shifts to late night (post-iftar & pre-suhoor); weekends are Fri–Sat

Creative taboos

• Disrespect to Islam/the Prophet (severe)
• pork & alcohol
• nudity/immodesty
• LGBT (illegal)
• Hindu–Muslim communal tension
• the 1971 Liberation War
• and post-2024 politics (Awami League/BNP/Jamaat & the interim government) — political/religious content carries real Cyber Security Act 2023 risk

Also worth knowing

1. Facebook is effectively 'the internet' and F-commerce (selling via FB pages/Messenger + COD) is a massive channel — build for Facebook + Messenger + bKash/COD;
2. cricket is the #1 engagement & betting driver — sync campaigns to match calendars;
3. a big Gulf/UK migrant diaspora makes imo calls + Nagad/bKash remittances culturally central;
4. among the cheapest traffic in Asia, but low payouts, thin COD margins & high delivery-rejection make it a pure volume game;
5. major political rupture — the Awami League government fell in an Aug 2024 uprising; an interim government under Muhammad Yunus followed, so keep political creative well clear