In 1990 Bangladesh produced about 193,000 tonnes of farmed fish and other aquaculture products. By 2024 that had reached 2.98 million tonnes, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Over the same years total fisheries production, which includes wild catch, rose from 0.85 million to 5.02 million tonnes, so aquaculture’s share grew from about 23% to 59%.
23% → 59%
Aquaculture’s share of Bangladesh’s total fisheries production, 1990 to 2024 (calculated from FAO data).
Aquaculture output has risen every year since 2005 and has more than doubled since 2010 (1.31 million tonnes). Ponds and other farmed systems, rather than rivers and the sea, are now the main source of the country’s fish, a staple source of animal protein.
For policy, this shifts the questions that matter: access to quality fingerlings and feed, disease control, and the exposure of coastal and low-lying ponds to salinity and floods. The data do not show who gains from this growth or how it affects nutrition, so those need household and market surveys.
Caveat: the figures are FAO estimates, compiled from national reports, and the share is our own calculation from two separate series.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), via World Bank WDI (ER.FSH.AQUA.MT, ER.FSH.PROD.MT).