Administrative geography of Bangladesh

Regions of Bangladesh:  Northern Bengal  Southern Bengal  Central Bengal  Eastern Bengal

Traditionally Bangladesh is divided between four regions by the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra delta;[2] formed by the confluence of the Ganges (local name Padma or Pôdda), Brahmaputra (Jamuna or Jomuna), and Meghna rivers and their respective tributaries.

• Northern Bengal: comprising Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division.[3]
• Eastern Bengal:[4] also known as eastern Bangladesh, comprising Chittagong Division,[5] Sylhet Division[6] and proposed Comilla Division,[7] known for the Surma-Meghna River System.[8]
• Central Bengal: also known as Central Bengal Region,[4] comprising Mymensingh Division and Dhaka Division, excluding proposed Faridpur Division.[9]
• Southern Bengal: comprising Barisal Division, Khulna Division and proposed Faridpur Division.[10]

Divisions of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is divided into eight major administrative divisions (Bengali: বিভাগ Bibhag). Each division is named after the major city within its jurisdiction that serves as the administrative capital of that division:

• Barishal (বরিশাল Barishal)
• Chittagong (চট্টগ্রাম Chittagong)
• Dhaka (ঢাকা Dhaka)
• Mymensingh (ময়মনসিংহ Mymensingh)
• Khulna (খুলনা Khulna)
• Rajshahi (রাজশাহী Rajshahi)
• Rangpur (রংপুর Rangpur)
• Sylhet (সিলেট Sylhet)

Proposed divisions

• Comilla Division – proposed to consist six northwestern districts of the existing Chittagong Division, formerly known as Comilla Region.
• Faridpur Division – proposed to consist five southern districts of the existing Dhaka Division.

Districts of Bangladesh

The divisions are divided into 64[11] districts, or zila (Bengali: জেলা, romanized: jela). Each district is run by a Deputy Commissioner (popularly abbreviated to "DC") who is appointed by the government from a Deputy secretary of BCS Administration Cadre.

Subdistricts of Bangladesh, divided by white lines

The districts are divided into sub-districts called Upazila (Bengali: উপজেলা, romanized: upojela). Upazilas are similar to the county subdivisions found in some Western countries. Bangladesh has 491 upazilas (as of 9 January 2017).[12][13] The upazilas are the second lowest tier of regional administration in Bangladesh. The administrative structure consists in fact in Divisions (8), Districts (64) and Upazila (491).

Upazilas were formerly known as thana which literally means police station. Despite the meaning, thanas functioned much as an administrative and geographic region, much as today's upazilas. In 1982 thanas were re-termed to as upazilas with provisions for semi-autonomous local governance. This system was reverted to the thana system in 1992. Later in 1999 geographic regions under administrations of thanas were converted into upazilas.[14] All administrative terms in this level were renamed from thana to upazila. For instance, Thana Nirbahi Officer (lit. Thana Executive Officer) was renamed to upazila Nirbahi Officer (lit. Upazila Executive Officer). The word thana is now used to solely refer to police stations. Generally, there is one police station for each upazila; but larger administrative units may have more than one police station covering different regions.

The Upazila is administered by Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) and Upazila Parishad. UNOs are Senior Assistant Secretary of Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS). Each Upazila Parishad (or council) has a chairman, a vice-chairman and a woman vice-chairman. All three are elected through direct popular election.

The Sub-districts are further subdivided into 4,554 Rural Councils and 323 Town Councils or Paurasabha or Municipality.

• Chakla
• Mahakuma
• Pargana
• Sarkar
• Thanas

• Local government in Bangladesh