A Working Day in Dhaka


  • Photographer
    Larry Louie
  • Prize
    1st Place / People/Lifestyle
  • Company/Studios
    Larry Louie Photography
  • Date of Photograph
    Oct. 2010
  • Technical Info
    Digital Archival Print

Bangladesh has experienced one of the highest and most rapid urban population increases in the world. Dhaka city has a huge population of 14 million with over 300,000 migrants arriving annually. Life is very difficult for these people. People are overcrowded in slums and public spaces that lack basic facilities such as safe water, sanitation and health services. With no access to further education and training, they can only be employed in menial labor allowing them to survive day to day without any means of getting ahead. These images take a glimpse into a normal working day of these people.

Story

Bangladesh has experienced one of the highest and most rapid urban population increases in the world. Dhaka city has a huge population of 14 million with over 300,000 migrants arriving annually. But without adequate infrastructure to support the high levels of urban population growth, over 40% of the population in Dhaka are forced to live in informal settlements or urban slums and many others live in public places such as railway terminals, bus stations, ports, empty markets, parks and stairwells. This means of the 14 million people estimated living in Dhaka, over 5 million do not have a home or are consider a floating population.

Life is very difficult for these people. People are overcrowded in slums and public spaces that lack basic facilities such as safe water, sanitation and health services. With no access to further education and training, they can only be employed in menial labor allowing them to survive day to day without any means of getting ahead. These images take a glimpse into a normal working day of these people.

Many workers from the floating population work in menial labor as day labors in the market or in rickshaw or van pulling operations. They make enough to survive day to day, but not enough to get ahead to even owning their own rickshaw or bicycle. One of the few jobs available to women, besides prostitution, is working in garbage depots or recycling yards, spending the whole day sorting and cleaning garbage and plastics.

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