In profile: Bangladesh's clothing industry

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. About 30 million people live below the poverty line. This corresponds to about 18 percent of the total population. At the same time, Bangladesh is the world's largest textile and clothing producer after China. The European Union and the United States are among the main buyers of textiles produced there.

Bangladesh in numbers

Population (2026): 178.3 million^[i]
Apparel export share (2025/2026): 80.62 percent, approximately USD 38.7 billion in fiscal year 2025-2025^[ii]
Number of textile manufacturers (2026): 3.315^[iii]
Employees in the garment industry (2023): 3 million, 53 percent women^[iv]
Minimum wage (since Dec 2023): 12,500 Taka /month (approx. €89/month, as of 2026)^[v]
Living wage, estimated by Asia Floor Wage (2022): 53.104 Taka (€382 /month, as of 2026)^[vi]

More than 84 percent of Bangladesh's export earnings are generated in the textile sector. Around 4.5 million people, including 54 percent women, make a living in this sector. The low labour costs have led to an enormous expansion of the textile sector in recent years: Bangladeshi workers are by far the worst paid in the world.

Despite the severe impact of COVID-19, which led to labour shortages and logistical difficulties, industry continued to see an increase in exports of ready-made garments in 2020-21. RMG) by 12.55 percent, showing a strong recovery in demand from key markets in Europe and North America.

Women in the clothing industry

Female workers in the textile sector are predominantly employed in subordinate, low-paid positions. Most of them are young women from rural areas who are forced to move to cities to earn money due to low schooling and lack of jobs in rural areas. Often they are the sole breadwinners of their children and husbands, who are often without work. On a monthly basis, the female workforce earns around 25 percent less than their male counterparts. For a regular month of work (excluding overtime), the average salary is 9,984 Taka (9,669 Taka for women and 10,928 Taka for men), which corresponds to about 79.39 euros. Trade unions demanded an increase in the monthly minimum wage for garment workers to 23,000 Taka (€165.60) in 2023^[vii] (of which 65 percent must make up the basic salary). In fact, however, the statutory minimum wage was only increased to 12,500 Taka (89 euros as of 09/2026). This value is far below the level of existence.^[viii] Therefore, most women work up to 52 hours a month in addition (legally allowed by the government), without holidays.

A 2022 Garments Workers Diaries (GWD) survey of 1,300 workers in Chittagong, Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gajipur found that 50 percent of women worked overtime between January and March 2022. Over two-thirds of workers (69 percent, men and women) said they have no choice whether to work overtime or not. About half of those who said they have no choice will face a penalty if they fail to work overtime on request.^[ix] In addition to exploitative work relationships and high physical strains, women workers often face gender-based violence and harassment. In RMG factories, sexual violence or harassment in the workplace is widespread; In Bangladesh, 80 percent of female garment workers have either experienced or observed such behaviour in the workplace.^[x]

Young textile workers at home, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2019. Photo: &Copy; Sina Marx | FEMNET Textile workers at home, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2019 © Sina Marx / FEMNET

Suppression of trade unions

In Bangladesh, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are under threat. Most unions were formed after the tragedy of Tazreen and Rana Plaza, as pressure on the government became too high. These are often people selected by factory management instead of legitimate workers' representations. The union of workers in the form of trade unions in Bangladesh is still very rare. According to a study by the Bangladesh Institute for Labour Studies (BILLS), 83 percent of the country's factories have no unions, with the remaining 17 percent suspected to either no longer exist or to be non-functional. In Bangladesh, the establishment and official recognition of trade unions is proving very difficult. According to BILLS, 61 percent of factory owners confirmed that unions can only be formed with a permit. Only eight percent of the workers surveyed said they were involved in a trade union. The main reasons for this are threats, possible punishments, fear of harassment and possible retaliation by the police or so-called ‘local goons’ (henchmen hired by employers to intimidate). Again and again, in clashes between the police and striking textile workers, people are killed, activists are tortured or kidnapped.

In Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre interviewed 24 trade union leaders and interviewed 124 trade union activists and labour rights defenders. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said that the situation for freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining has deteriorated, leading to increased exploitation of workers.^[xi]

Instead of the trade unions, committees are often more represented in Bangladesh. At 82 percent, co-determination committees (participation committees) are mainly common in factories throughout the country. According to BILLS, however, more than half of the workers consider these to be ineffective.

Tragedy in clothing factories: Rana Plaza collapse and fire at Tazreen factory

Sad fame came to Bangladesh with one of the biggest industrial disasters ever: On April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed and tore 1,134 closers to their deaths, injuring more than 2,500 people. In the building produced five textile factories, many for large fashion companies, whose products are also hanging in our wardrobes. The International Labour Organization (ILO) demanded $30 million in compensation for the victims and their families in response to the collapse. In 2014, those affected received the first compensation rate, which was paid out in full in the following years.

Just five months before the collapse of Rana Plaza, at least 112 workers had lost their lives in another tragic accident when they were trapped in the burning Tazreen Fashions factory on the outskirts of Dhaka. Tazreen produced for the German discounters KiK, Lidl, and C&A, as well as for Sean John’s Brand Enyce. In addition, at least 14 international customers had placed current or recently placed orders there at that time. Some of these customers had already been massively made aware of safety deficiencies in working and production conditions. Nevertheless, they continued to place orders.

Following the increased pressure on the government and brands, some positive developments have been observed in recent years: The ACCORD, the Agreement on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, was signed by nearly 200 mainly European companies. This agreement is a comprehensive and independent agreement aimed at making all garment factories in Bangladesh a safe place to work. The agreement works independently and neutrally and has earned a good reputation and credibility abroad and among workers. Thanks to the agreement, 2000 factories will be inspected for their safety standards in the future. The results will be uploaded on a publicly accessible website. In 2021, the signatories to the ACCORD agreement reached a new phase of their partnership and drafted the International Agreement on Health and Safety in the Textile and Clothing Industry (International ACCORD). This legally binding agreement facilitates the implementation of the Agreement's country-specific security programmes, which are currently being implemented in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and lays the foundations for potential future programmes in other garment manufacturing countries.

In addition, following the 2014 Tazreen incident, an agreement was signed to make payments specifically to cover the loss of income and medical treatment. This agreement was signed by the IndustriALL Global Union, the Clean Clothes Campaign, C&A and the C&A Foundation, among others. It led to the establishment of the Tazreen Claims Administration Trust in September 2015. It took more than three years to secure compensation for the affected families.

Lack of enforcement of law

The legal situation in Bangladesh is not fundamentally bad: The Bangladeshi legal system contains a variety of protective measures. The country has ratified seven of the 11 ILO core labour standards (in 2022, the ILO added the two ILO conventions 155 and 187 on health at work to the previous nine core labour standards, which are binding on all ILO member states that Bangladesh has not yet ratified), as well as the three main international human rights treaties with labour implications. Since the adoption of the national labour law in 2006, the protection of workers has improved slightly. For example, the Labour Act fully covers the areas of harassment and discrimination, child labour, trade union membership, leave regulations and safety at work. At the same time, it still contains weaknesses in terms of minimum age and low wages. The problem lies above all in the lack of enforcement of law by the authorities and a lack of effective legal protection for those affected. Lack of controls, weakly trained rule of law structures, understaffed and underfunded courts, corruption and nepotism are widespread.