Bangladesh had 0.92 hospital beds per 1,000 people in 2023. Among seven Asian countries with 2023 data, only Nepal (0.54) had fewer. Sri Lanka had 3.93, Thailand 2.39, Bhutan 2.16, Malaysia 1.96 and Indonesia 1.37.
4.3 times
Sri Lanka’s hospital beds per 1,000 people relative to Bangladesh’s, 2023.
The gap is wide even against countries at similar income levels. Indonesia has about one and a half times Bangladesh’s bed density, and Thailand about 2.6 times. Bangladesh’s own figure has risen from 0.54 in 2010, but it was 1.01 in 2022 before slipping to 0.92 in 2023, so the improvement has not been steady.
Beds are a rough measure of capacity. The indicator counts inpatient beds in public, private, general and specialised hospitals and rehabilitation centres, and says nothing about whether they are staffed, equipped or located where people live. Reporting also differs between countries, so small gaps should not be over-read. India, Pakistan and Viet Nam are left out because their latest values date from 2021 or earlier, which would not be comparable.
For policy, the comparison suggests that expanding inpatient capacity, together with the doctors and nurses to run it, is part of closing Bangladesh’s health-system gap. Where new beds should go needs district-level facility data, which this national series does not provide.
Source: World Health Organization data, supplemented by country data, via World Bank WDI (SH.MED.BEDS.ZS), accessed October 2026.