About 907 rivers thread through Bangladesh, which is built almost entirely on the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna Delta - the largest river delta on Earth The Padma, Jamuna and Meghna carry the combined flow of the Himalaya to the Bay of Bengal.
The main distributary of the Ganges inside Bangladesh.
📍 Origin: Enters Bangladesh from India near Chapainawabganj as the continuation of the Ganges.
💧 Significance: Its dry-season flow is shared with India under the 1996 Ganges Treaty; it is vital for irrigation, fisheries and the ferry/bridge crossings of the south-west.
Old Brahmaputra course through Mymensingh.
📍 Origin: Splits from the main Jamuna channel near Bahadurabad, following the river’s original 19th-century course before it shifted west.
💧 Significance: Still an important water source and inland waterway for Mymensingh division, though it now carries far less flow than the modern Jamuna channel.
Carries the combined delta flow to the Bay of Bengal.
📍 Origin: Formed inside Bangladesh where the Surma–Kushiyara system meets the combined Padma–Jamuna flow near Chandpur.
💧 Significance: Carries the delta’s combined discharge to the Bay of Bengal through one of the widest river mouths in the world; a major inland shipping and fishing route.
Main river of the Sylhet basin.
📍 Origin: Enters Bangladesh from the Indian state of Assam via the Barak river, which splits into the Surma and Kushiyara at the border.
💧 Significance: Central to the Sylhet basin’s haors and flash-flood-prone farming cycle; Sylhet city sits on its bank.
Twin of the Surma, fed by the Barak.
📍 Origin: The southern branch of the Barak river at the India–Bangladesh border, running roughly parallel to the Surma.
💧 Significance: Irrigates the Sylhet–Moulvibazar basin before its waters rejoin the Surma system to help form the Meghna.
The Brahmaputra’s main channel - among the widest rivers on Earth.
📍 Origin: Enters Bangladesh from India as the Brahmaputra, whose headwaters rise from Himalayan glaciers in Tibet.
💧 Significance: One of the widest and most sediment-heavy rivers on Earth; the Bangabandhu Bridge and the Jamuna rail bridge are the country’s main crossings over it.
Powers Kaptai dam and Chattogram port; Bangabandhu Tunnel runs beneath it.
📍 Origin: Rises in the Lushai (Mizo) Hills of north-east India and enters Bangladesh through the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The only major river rising inside Bangladesh.
📍 Origin: Rises in the Bandarban hills near the Myanmar border, inside the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
💧 Significance: The main navigable route to remote Thanchi and Ruma in Bandarban, and the access route for treks to Nafakhum and Boga Lake.
Lifeline of the north, shared with India.
📍 Origin: Rises near the Pahunri glacier in Sikkim, India, and enters Bangladesh at Kaunia in Rangpur district.
💧 Significance: At the centre of a long-unresolved Bangladesh–India water-sharing dispute; feeds the Teesta Barrage irrigation project across Rangpur division.
The only natural carp breeding river in South Asia.
📍 Origin: Rises in the Batnatali hills of Khagrachhari district in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
💧 Significance: Supplies wild carp spawn collected every monsoon that stocks much of Bangladesh’s fish hatcheries - an ecological resource found nowhere else in South Asia.
Khulna’s port river.
📍 Origin: Formed by the confluence of the Bhairab and Atrai rivers just north of Khulna city.
The river Dhaka grew up on.
📍 Origin: A distributary of the Dhaleshwari river, branching off near Kamrangirchar on Dhaka’s south-western edge.
💧 Significance: Once Dhaka’s main trade artery; now one of the most polluted rivers in the country from tannery and industrial waste, despite ongoing clean-up efforts.
Bangladesh has about 907 rivers, which is why it is often called the land of rivers.
The Padma, the Jamuna and the Meghna. Together they form the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna delta, the largest river delta in the world.
Padma runs about 341 km inside Bangladesh.