Why People in Bangladesh Are Interested in Illegal Migration

Before going into the main discussion, I invite the reader into a scenario. No matter which country or society you belong to, for the next 15 minutes I request you to imagine yourself as a citizen of Bangladesh.

At the same time, place yourself in this situation: you are a Bangladeshi citizen. You work a small job in a commercial area of Dhaka city, and your residence is in a relatively downtown or low-cost area. Your daily travel budget from home to workplace is 50 Bangladeshi Taka—25 Taka going, 25 Taka returning. Because your salary does not allow any higher allocation.

You travel by public bus. Every day after office hours, you struggle to return home.

Now let us move into a hypothetical scenario.

Like every day, today you have also left your office to go home. You are standing on the road waiting for a bus.

The first bus arrives with 10 empty seats, but 12 people are waiting. 10 manage to get on, and 2 are left behind.

The second bus arrives with 7 empty seats, but now 15 people are waiting. 7 get on, and 8 remain.

The third bus arrives with only 5 empty seats, but now there are 20 waiting passengers. 5 get on, 15 remain.

But there is no queue system—whoever pushes harder gets on. Those who fail remain behind. You are one of those who are left behind every day in this way.

However, you must return home within a fixed time—even if it is one hour late. Because your wife is waiting at home. You may have pending tasks, shopping to do on the way, or you may need to spend time with your children or help them study.

At some point, you decide that you will also push and get on the bus. You prepare mentally. Then you push two people aside with your elbows and finally manage to return home.

In this way, you commit your first small irregular act and deprive two people of their position in the queue—just as others had previously deprived you.

In Bangladesh, people often treat irregularity lightly. While trying to secure opportunities for themselves and their families and escape being left behind, they gradually internalize irregular practices and eventually become frustrated, searching for any possible way to change their fate.

Dear reader, if you are a citizen of another country, you might say that you would try to maintain rules in your country. Yes, we will discuss that another day. Now let us return to the main topic.

Main Reasons Behind Illegal Migration from Bangladesh

However, in the case of Bangladesh, the biggest reasons are population density, lack of social security, low value of labor, and most importantly, the insecurity of children’s future. No one wants their children to grow up in an unsafe world.

Why Bangladesh is so insecure can be discussed in another writing. Here I want to highlight how insecure it is and why people try to migrate illegally to different countries.

The following information is based on analysis of various reports and newspapers compiled by Google AI:

Question of Life Safety

In Bangladesh, the daily number of unnatural deaths is quite alarming. A large portion includes suicides, road accidents, and murders. According to the latest 2024–25 statistics, more than 100 people die unnatural deaths every day.

According to the Police Headquarters, Road Safety Foundation, and various studies, the daily average breakdown is as follows:

Road Accidents

In 2025, according to the Road Safety Foundation, 9,111 people died in road accidents. Based on this, about 25 people died daily in road accidents.

Murders

According to Police Headquarters, 3,432 murder cases occurred in 2024. In the first 9 months of 2025 (January–September), 2,911 murder cases were filed, meaning an average of about 11 murders per day.

Suicide

In 2023, about 56 people committed suicide per day on average. However, according to Police Headquarters data from 2020–2024, the average was about 40 suicides per day.

If we combine suicides (40–56), road accidents (25), and murders (11), then more than 75 to 90 people die unnatural deaths every day from these three categories alone.

In addition, there are deaths in police custody and cases of enforced disappearances. In Bangladesh, from 2009 to 2024, around 1,900 people were reported as taken by law enforcement forces and never returned. Human rights organizations have identified around 1,200 such families where the fate of missing members is known or partially traced.

Deaths in Police Custody

According to AI-based analysis of various data sources:

In Bangladesh, deaths in police and prison custody and human rights violations have increased significantly in recent years.

According to reports by Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) and other organizations:

2023–2024 (High Risk Period)

In 2023, 105 people died in prison custody, compared to 65 in 2022. In 2023, at least 13 people died in police custody and 3 in DB (Detective Branch) custody. It should be noted that these are only documented cases; the actual number may be higher.

2022

In 2022, more than 44 people reportedly died in custody of police or law enforcement agencies according to multiple human rights reports. Among them, some were missing persons whose bodies were never recovered. Some families were waiting for their return, while some ended up in unknown detention or death.

Population Density Question

Anyone can calculate that, based on Bangladesh’s population density, if all the people of the world were resettled in the United States, about 36% of its land would still remain unused. Even if Alaska is excluded, around 22% land would still remain empty.

This helps us understand the reality in which Bangladeshis live. It should be remembered that Bangladesh has more than 700 rivers. All ancient civilizations developed around rivers, which provided food, drinking water, agriculture, and transportation.

As a result, Bangladesh has been densely populated for thousands of years. In earlier times, during crises or disasters, people could migrate collectively to other places. But in the modern era, state borders and visa systems no longer allow such natural movement.

In ancient civilizations—even in Europe—mass migration of entire populations was common due to war or natural causes. Entire settlements would shift elsewhere.

Bangladesh’s population, however, has remained here through both war and natural challenges, while others have come here because nature provided everything necessary for life through a carefully balanced system—especially rivers as a single solution for food, water, and transport.

Population Comparison and Calculations

Global Population (2025 estimate):

8,231,613,070

United States Population (2025 estimate):

347,275,807

US Land Area:

9,629,091 km²

Population density ≈ 36.07 people/km²

Bangladesh Population (2025 estimate):

175,686,899

Bangladesh Land Area:

130,170 km² (excluding rivers and water bodies)

Population density ≈ 1,349.67 people/km²

World Land-Area Based Density:

Total land area ≈ 149,000,000 km²
Density ≈ 55.25 people/km²

(Source: Wikipedia, Worldometer)

Analysis

• To fit the world’s population at Bangladesh density, about 6.1 million km² of land would be required.
• The United States has more than 9.6 million km² of land.
• After allocation, about 3.53 million km² (36%) would remain unused.

Even excluding Alaska:

Alaska land area = 1,717,856 km²
Alaska population = 741,147
Density ≈ 0.43 people/km²

Even Alaska is not completely uninhabitable.

Without Alaska:

US land area = 7,911,235 km²
Required land = 6,098,970 km²
Remaining = 1,812,265 km² (about 22.9%)

Similar calculations for Russia, China, or Saudi Arabia would produce different results due to deserts and uninhabitable regions.

Adaptation and Migration Discussion

Although such settlement is practically impossible, this analysis is presented to show the adaptive capacity of Bangladeshis.

This adaptation is not artificial or planned, but has developed naturally over time through environmental conditions.

The purpose of presenting this is to explain why people from Bangladesh take high risks to migrate illegally. Is it merely irregular behavior or ignorance?

Question of Opportunity

Here, opportunity is less than population. So people search for it abroad. That can be explained simply—but the question is deeper: why do they search for opportunity illegally? Why do they take such risks? Why do they choose unsafe and undignified paths?

First, for many Bangladeshis who go abroad, illegal life there is often not worse than legal life here, especially for those without money, property, or power.

Second, no one initially wants to build life through irregular means. Many become forced into such decisions after repeated failure, deprivation, or observing others’ success abroad.

Third, Bangladeshi society is family-centered. People endure hardship for themselves but want better lives for their families and children. When future security seems uncertain, they move toward risky alternatives.

Fourth, when they see a small number of people succeed abroad after years of struggle, they become inspired to follow the same path, as domestic opportunities appear limited.

Even education quality, technical training value, employability, and recognition in Bangladesh are uncertain. Legal migration itself is also very difficult and expensive.

A detailed discussion on how difficult legal migration is for Bangladeshis will be presented later.

Final Reflection

Now imagine yourself in this situation. What would you do?

Even people in developed and safe countries might consider leaving if their circumstances were slightly worse or if better opportunities seemed accessible elsewhere—especially when the legitimate path becomes extremely difficult or impossible.