Divisions of Bangladesh


Bibhag is the first-level administrative division in Bangladesh. There are 8 divisions of Bangladesh. Each division is named after the major city within its jurisdiction that also serves as the administrative headquarters of that division. Each division is further split into several districts which are then further sub-divided into Upazilas.

History

Following the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the country had four divisions: Chittagong Division, Dhaka Division, Khulna Division and Rajshahi Division.
In 1983, the English spelling of the Dacca Division was changed into Dhaka to more closely match the Bengali pronunciation.
In 1993, Barisal Division was :Image:Bangladesh divisions 1993-1998.png|split off from Khulna Division; in 1995, Sylhet Division was split off from Chittagong Division; and in 2010, Rangpur Division was split off from Rajshahi Division. In terms of area the newly formed Rangpur Division ranked fifth followed by Barisal Division and Sylhet Division.
On 14 September 2015 Mymensingh Division was added as the eighth division. In 2015 the process started to create two more divisions: Comilla Division and Faridpur Division.

Divisional Commissioner

Divisional Commissioner is the administrative head of a division. Divisional Commissioner is appointed by the government from an Additional Secretary of B.C.S. Administration Cadre. The role of a Divisional Commissioner's office is to act as the supervisory head of all the government Offices situated in the division. A Divisional Commissioner is given the direct responsibility of supervising the revenue and development administration of a division. The Divisional Commissioner is assisted by the several Additional Divisional Commissioners, Senior Assistant Commissioners and other bureaucratic officials.

List of divisions

The following table outlines some key statistics about the eight divisions of Bangladesh as found in the 2011 Population and Housing Census conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Proposed divisions

Two more divisions have been proposed to ease down administrative work load due to population increase:
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