Staggering photos show what daily life is really like in Dhaka, the most crowded city in the world
Dhaka is the largest and most densely populated city in Bangladesh.
More than 19.5 million people live within 300 kilometers — about 186 miles.
Source: World Population Review
That's 23,234 people per square kilometer, which is just over half a square mile.
Source: World Population Review
Rickshaws outnumber cars in Dhaka and are an important source of income and transportation for the poor.
Source: Reuters
In 2011, there were an estimated 1 million tricycle rickshaws in Dhaka and nearly half of all road accidents involve them, reported Reuters.
Source: Reuters
However, most people take the train to commute in and out of the city.
Source: Daily Mail
There are no seats inside the trains and many commuters risk hanging off the side or climb 12 feet to sit on the roof of the train.
Source: Daily Mail
Documentarian Yousef Tushar spent a day at a Dhaka train station and said around 2,000 men, women, and children climb onto a train's roof at a time, reported the Daily Mail.
Source: Daily Mail
Some people use ladders to get onto the trains, some climb using the windows as leverage, and some get hoisted up by other riders.
Source: Reuters
It's hard to find space for yourself.
Source: Reuters
But the industry's workers are paid poorly and lack basic protections.
Source: Reuters
The garment industry was a lifeline in Bangladesh that once employed an estimated 10 million locals.
Source: The World Bank, Reuters
But hundreds of small clothing factories have closed or cut workers after an elimination of global textile quotas in 2005.
Source: The World Bank, Reuters
In 2013, a garment factory collapsed, killing hundreds of workers. Mourners gathered for a mass burial in Dhaka.
Source: Reuters
After garments, shrimp is is the second largest export in the country, earning about $400 million a year and constituting 8% of Bangladesh's total exports.
Source: Reuters
Locals rely on the Buriganga river, which is heavily polluted with human and factory waste.
Source: Reuters
They wash clothes in it ...
Source: Reuters
Some people swim in the river ...
Source: Reuters
Many cobble together ways to make money outside of the river, too.
Source: Reuters
People in the slums of Dhaka will create cakes of cow dung to use as a source of fuel for cooking, or to sell to markets.
Source: Reuters
Workers in Dhaka are legally supposed to be 15 years old or older.
Source: Export.gov, Reuters
In 2013, there were 21.5 million workers in the city between the ages of 15 and 29.
Source: Reuters
However, many young workers start before the age of 15.
Source: Reuters
Local children will collect things to sell at the markets, like hyacinth flowers from a swamp ...
Source: Reuters
... or plastic waste from the river.
Source: Reuters
They see thousands of customers daily.
Source: Reuters
Vendors will pull up in boats along the Buriganga river to wait on the riverbank for potential buyers of goods like jackfruits.
Source: Reuters
They sell everything from used bottles ...
Source: Reuters
... to fresh eggs ...
Source: Reuters
Some vendors walk along train tracks selling goods.
Source: Reuters
While premium cattle hides are typically produced for export.
Source: Reuters
... catching some rest where they can find it.
Source: Reuters
Currently, $1 equates to about 84.34 BDT.
Source: Exchange Rate
As of November 2018, the minimum wage in Dhaka is 5,300 BDT per month.
Source: Trading Economics
Or $62.83 USD.
Source: Reuters
But that's for garment workers, not for people scraping by without regular employment.
Source: Reuters
Non-garment laborers work in any condition....
Source: Reuters
In the world's most crowded city, nothing is easy.
Source: Reuters
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