Dhaka’s slow but sure decline in the Global Liveability Index -- now ranking 171st out of the 173 cities ranked -- is a cause for national embarrassment and must be a wake-up call for our nation. We have never fared well, but the fact that we were 166th in 2023 and 168th in 2024 tells a grim story: Dhaka is becoming a worst city to live in with every passing year.
The index, measuring stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure, shows Dhaka’s infrastructure score at a dismal 26.8 out of 100, and its environment and healthcare scores fare little better. That these are some of if not the lowest markers for any major city worldwide is in sharp contrast to a city and nation that harbours ambitions of becoming a developed nation in a few decades.
The reality, however, is that our capital is a metropolis that has long been buckling under its own weight. It is choked by traffic, plagued by pollution, and lacking in even the basic infrastructure.
This crisis is not new but the product of decades of unchecked centralization - something that this newspaper has been calling out for years and years. There will be little to no improvement in Dhaka as long as it continues down this path of unplanned urbanization.
Reforms and ambitious projects have yet to deliver meaningful change while every year, the gap between vision and reality grows wider. The 20 million who call Dhaka home deserve a better city to call home, and we cannot afford to let Dhaka’s decline continue unchecked.
Without bold, coordinated action, Dhaka’s slide will accelerate, with consequences that reach far beyond the city’s boundaries. The government -- present and future -- must act with urgency and resolve to reverse this dangerous trend and ensure that we can begin to have a liveable city to call our capital.