Written by The Banking Post
Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) misses Tk 6.7 trillion in economic value from unpaid household and care work—equivalent to 18.9 per cent of national output—with women contributing the overwhelming share, according to new official data.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), in collaboration with UN Women and the Asian Development Bank, unveiled its first Household Production Satellite Account (HPSA) on Tuesday. Drawing on the Time Use Survey 2021 and Labour Force Survey 2022, the HPSA measures the economic value of unpaid domestic and care activities such as cooking, cleaning, childcare, and elder care.
The report shows women generated 85.37 per cent of unpaid work in 2021, valued at Tk 5.7 trillion, while men contributed the rest. Domestic work alone accounts for Tk 4.0 trillion, with women performing 85.34 per cent. Care work is valued at Tk 2.7 trillion, with women contributing 85.41 per cent.
Women’s unpaid contributions to food and meal management (Tk 2.4 trillion), childcare (Tk 2.2 trillion), and household cleaning (Tk 470 billion) dwarf men’s Tk 152 billion, Tk 343 billion, and Tk 126 billion in the same categories.
On average, Bangladeshis spend 2,435 hours a year on unpaid work, 79 per cent of it domestic chores and the rest care work. Women spend 2,146 hours—7.3 times more than men—devoting nearly nine-tenths of their time to such tasks.
The launch of the HPSA follows a landmark pledge in the FY26 national budget to officially include women’s unpaid labour in GDP calculations, marking a significant policy shift to recognise “a critical yet invisible driver of the economy,” the report notes.
