Local government in Bangladesh

Local government in Bangladesh operates at four levels — union, upazila, district and urban (municipal and city corporation) — under a set of separate statutes rather than a single consolidated local government act. Its constitutional basis is Articles 59 and 60 of the Constitution, under which local government in every administrative unit is entrusted to bodies composed of persons elected in accordance with law, and Parliament confers on those bodies the power to impose taxes for local purposes, prepare budgets and maintain funds ¹. The administrative ministry is the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (স্থানীয় সরকার, পল্লী উন্নয়ন ও সমবায় মন্ত্রণালয়), acting through its Local Government Division ².

Tiers and current counts

Counts are as of the dates shown; several of these numbers change when new administrative units are approved.

Tier	Bangla	Count	Date / basis
Union Parishad (rural, lowest tier)	ইউনিয়ন পরিষদ	4,554	2023/2024 sources [S3][S4]
Upazila Parishad	উপজেলা পরিষদ	495	2023/2024 sources; subject to the count changes recorded in *Upazila system* [S3][S4]
Zila Parishad (district council)	জেলা পরিষদ	64	61 general parishads plus 3 hill-district parishads [S3][S4]
Municipality / Pourashava	পৌরসভা	323	September 2024 [S6][S7]; 328 in the text and 330 in the table of a 2023 source [S3]
City Corporation	সিটি কর্পোরেশন	13	From 2026; previously 12 [S9]

The 12 city corporations before 2026 were Dhaka South, Dhaka North, Chattogram, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barishal, Narayanganj, Cumilla, Rangpur, Gazipur and Mymensingh ⁶. Bogura was declared the 13th city corporation in 2026 ⁹.

Governing statutes

There is no single consolidated local government act; each tier or type has its own statute, most of them comprehensively revised in 2009 ³⁵:

• Local Government (Union Parishad) Act, 2009 — union parishads ⁵.
• Local Government (Upazila Parishad) Act, 1998, amended in 2009 — upazila parishads ³⁵.
• Zila Parishad Act, 2000 — district councils ³⁵.
• Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009 — city corporations ⁵.
• Local Government (Pourashava) Act, 2009 — municipalities ⁵.

The Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009 was amended by the Local Government (City Corporation) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024 ⁶⁷. Supporting statutes include the Village Court Act, 2006 and the Right to Information Act, 2009 ³.

Elected offices and appointed officers

Elected offices at these tiers are filled by direct election: the Union Parishad chairman and members, the Upazila Parishad chairman and vice-chairmen, and mayors of city corporations and municipalities ³⁴. The corresponding central-government officers — Divisional Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner — are appointed by the central government, and the Upazila Nirbahi Officer is appointed through the Local Government Division ³.

Institutions under the Local Government Division

• Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) — স্থানীয় সরকার প্রকৌশল অধিদপ্তর — sits under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives ⁸.
• National Institute of Local Government (NILG) — জাতীয় স্থানীয় সরকার ইনস্টিটিউট — is the training and research institute under the Local Government Division ¹⁰.

Change of office-holders, August 2024

On 19 August 2024 the Local Government Division used the Local Government (City Corporation) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024 to remove the mayors of all 12 city corporations and the mayors of 323 municipalities, and appointed administrators in their place ⁶⁷. This was a change in the tenure of office-holders under an ordinance, not a change to the number or boundaries of administrative units.

Verification notes

• The municipality count is not settled at a single figure for a single date. The two cited values carry different reference dates — 323 in September 2024 ⁶⁷ and 328–330 in 2023 ³ — and no authoritative 2026 figure was located. Both are shown with their dates rather than combined.
• The act numbers of the local government statutes are not asserted here. The act names are verified from two independent sources ³⁵, but each statute was not individually opened at the Laws of Bangladesh portal to confirm its act number.
• Union Parishad counts vary between sources (4,554 is the most commonly cited; some sources give 4,573). The figure used is the one stated in both a 2023 intergovernmental profile and a 2024 electoral FAQ ³⁴.

Sources

10 sources cited. Tiers: T1 official or primary, T2 scholarly or curated, T3 media of record.

1. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh — Articles 59 and 60 (Local Government) — Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (T1, accessed 2026-09-19). http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-367/section-24613.html
2. Local Government Division — home page — Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (T1, accessed 2026-09-19). https://lgd.gov.bd/
3. LoGICA Intergovernmental Profile: Bangladesh, 2023 — Local Government and Decentralisation Initiative / decentralisation.net (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). http://decentralization.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/LOGICA_IGP_BGD2023.pdf
4. Elections in Bangladesh: 2024 Upazila Elections — International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://www.ifes.org/tools-resources/faqs/elections-bangladesh-2024-upazila-elections
5. LG Acts index — Democracywatch (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://www.dwatch-bd.org/lgacts.html
6. Government removes mayors of 12 city corporations, 323 municipalities — Prothom Alo (English), reporting a gazette notification of the Local Government Division (T3, accessed 2026-09-19). https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/government/n9gpq8bkav
7. 12 city corporation mayors, 323 municipalities’ councillors removed — The Business Standard (T3, accessed 2026-09-19). https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/12-city-corporation-323-municipality-councillors-removed-951556
8. Local Government Engineering Department — project page (statement of ministry placement) — Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) (T1, accessed 2026-09-19). https://oldweb.lged.gov.bd/ProjectHome.aspx?projectID=240
9. Govt approves Bogura City Corporation, five new upazilas — The Business Standard (T3, accessed 2026-09-19). https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/govt-approves-bogura-city-corporation-five-new-upazilas-1432741
10. National Institute of Local Government — portal — National Institute of Local Government (NILG) (T1, accessed 2026-09-19). http://nilg.gov.bd/

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