Share of female business owners in Bangladesh
Bangladesh: Share of female business owners was 3.9% in 2024. ▼ Falling
Share of female business owners in Bangladesh, 2014–2024
Source: World Bank's Entrepreneurship Survey and database (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/entrepreneurship). Downloaded on May 2, 2026. Measured in % of total business owners.
Analysis
In 2024, share of female business owners in Bangladesh stood at 3.9%. That is the lowest value across all 11 years on record.
That represents a change of down 14.4% on the previous year and down 60.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of female business owners in Bangladesh peaked at 9.8% in 2014 and was at its lowest, 3.9%, in 2024.
Bangladesh ranks 71st of 72 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 11 years of available data.
Share of female business owners in Bangladesh, year by year
| Year | % of total business owners | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 9.8% | — |
| 2015 | 8.8% | -9.7% |
| 2016 | 8.3% | -6.5% |
| 2017 | 6.9% | -16.0% |
| 2018 | 6.9% | -0.3% |
| 2019 | 6.0% | -13.0% |
| 2020 | 5.7% | -5.0% |
| 2021 | 5.2% | -8.4% |
| 2022 | 4.6% | -12.2% |
| 2023 | 4.5% | -2.0% |
| 2024 | 3.9% | -14.4% |
Bangladesh compared with similar countries
- Bangladesh's 3.9% is below the median for lower middle income countries, which is 21.7%, 18% of the median. (21 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 7.8% | 6.0% | 9.8% | 6 |
| 2020s | 4.8% | 3.9% | 5.7% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Bangladesh
- 68 United Arab Emirates 8.8% compare
- 69 Tajikistan 7.8% compare
- 70 Bahrain 5.1% compare
- 72 Afghanistan 2.0% compare
More private sector data for Bangladesh
- Merchandise trade 25.8% (2025)
- Food imports 13.0% (2018)
- Manufactures imports 67.0% (2018)
- Merchandise imports 69.37 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 3.4% (2018)
- Manufactures exports 94.5% (2018)
- Merchandise exports 48.17 billion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 274.16 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.1056 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 1.95 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of female business owners in Bangladesh?
- Share of female business owners in Bangladesh was 3.9% in 2024, according to World Bank's Entrepreneurship Survey and database (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/entrepreneurship). Downloaded on May 2, 2026.
- What is the highest share of female business owners recorded in Bangladesh?
- The highest recorded value was 9.8% in 2014.
- What is the lowest share of female business owners recorded in Bangladesh?
- The lowest recorded value was 3.9% in 2024.
- How does Bangladesh rank for share of female business owners?
- Bangladesh ranks 71st out of 72 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of female business owners rising or falling in Bangladesh?
- Over the last ten years it is down 60.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Bangladesh data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank's Entrepreneurship Survey and database (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/entrepreneurship). Downloaded on May 2, 2026, published as part of Share of female business owners (% of total business owners). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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About this data
Share of female business is the proportion of female newly registered limited liability company owners out of the total number of newly registered limited liability company owners in the economy in the calendar year.