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Move & retire

Bangladesh

Very cheap, genuinely warm, and the least insured population on this site.

4/4
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Living
~$1,100/mo
Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Safety
Low
A hundred-and-seventeenth of 163, fourth in South Asia, and slightly improved on the previous edition
Residency
Work, invest, or nothing
Healthcare
You pay for all of it, and the ceiling is India
Out-of-pocket spending is 79.3% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site. At 79.3% this is the highest figure on this site, and here it does mean what it looks like: there is very little insurance of any kind.

More is being checked.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Living~$1,100/mo

Pathoff judgement directed by evidence, not computed from it: the country’s position comes from the World Bank household consumption price level for 2024 (0.285 of the United States, CC BY 4.0 — the ICP benchmark carried forward annually by the World Bank’s own method); the US reference budget is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
SafetyLow

Global Peace Index 2026: rank 117 of 163, score 2.226. Converted by the Pathoff GPI formula (GPI in lib/scoring.ts)

A hundred-and-seventeenth of 163, fourth in South Asia, and slightly improved on the previous edition

Confidence
made by us from the source
ResidencyWork, invest, or nothing

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-4), residency band "Work, family or business only": Employment and investor visas are issued through the investment authority and renewed, and a permanent-residence category exists for investors who remit a stated sum. At the foot of the band because no route exists for someone arriving on income alone, and because the work route runs through staffing ratios rather than a published personal test.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09
HealthcareYou pay for all of it, and the ceiling is India

Pathoff healthcare rubric (the Pathoff method, section 13-2), band "You buy your own, and it is affordable": No public system a foreign resident can use, and private consultations and hospitals in Dhaka are cheap and quick for ordinary care. At the very foot of the band: out-of-pocket spending is the highest recorded on this site, and serious treatment routinely means a flight to India, Thailand or Singapore.

Out-of-pocket spending is 79.3% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site. At 79.3% this is the highest figure on this site, and here it does mean what it looks like: there is very little insurance of any kind.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09

What it is like here

Bangladesh is one of the cheapest countries here and one of the friendliest to a foreigner in daily life. The reservations are structural and they are serious: nearly four fifths of all health spending comes straight out of people’s pockets, there is no retirement or income route in, and Dhaka’s air quality is among the worst measured anywhere in the world.

How the process works

1

Route everything through the investment authority

Work permits and investor registration are handled there, not at a consulate.

⏱ 3–6 months
2

Buy international cover, not local cover

The realistic plan for anything serious is treatment abroad.

⏱ 1–2 weeks
3

Plan around the air

Dhaka’s winter air quality is a health decision, not a comfort one.

Timing not confirmed

Where people settle

Dhaka (Gulshan, Baridhara)
The diplomatic quarter, the best hospitals, and the worst traffic
Chattogram
The sea, the port economy, and cleaner air
Sylhet
Tea country, hills, and a long-standing diaspora connection

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-04.

Photograph of Bangladesh by Wasiul Bahar, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.