The World s Most Densely Populated City 36 Million People

Today, we're going deep into one of the most magically insane cities in the entire planet, Dhaka, Bangladesh, with a population of 36.6 million people, making it the second most populous urban area in the world. So, what they're hitting here is a piece of suspension from a truck, and they're making it into a machete that apparently will last for a couple of generations. It's also the most densely populated city on the entire planet. You can't walk one meter in the city without brushing shoulders with another human. In the year 2000, there were around 17 million people. Now, over 36 million people. That's a doubling in population in 26 years. Estimates say that it'll hit 52 million by the year 2050. I've been to Bangladesh in the past, but lately, this country has gone through hardships with political unrest Turmoil and uncertainty in Bangladesh. After dozens of people were killed in clashes with police, the country's longest-serving prime minister resigned amid the violence, fleeing to nearby India. Thousands of protesters flooding the streets, storming the prime minister's official residence today, looting, taking furniture, dishes, food, whatever they could carry, led by students angry about a quota system for government jobs, which effectively reserved many of those lucrative jobs for people with connections to the prime minister's party. The protests ended Hasina's 15 years in office. A special tribunal has found the deposed prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, guilty of crimes against humanity, and she's been sentenced to death. This is the third time I've tried to make this video. The first time I got here, there were military and police on the streets. There was a curfew. I wasn't allowed to leave the hotel. The unrest was so extreme. Then I came back a while later, and the monsoon was so heavy, the streets were flooding. I couldn't film outside without almost being washed away. So, here we are, third time lucky. Let's go deep into Dhaka, Bangladesh. Welcome to Dhaka, Bangladesh. Here we are, 36 million people. The city is absolutely insane. Today, we're going to explore, see what we can come across. Peace be upon you. Come down to this market, and it's absolute chaos. Classic Dhaka here. Have a look. This chili here is ferociously, violently hot. If you touch it, it's certain death. So, they've recently built an expressway over the city to alleviate traffic because it can take sometimes hours to travel just a few kilometers because this is the most densely populated city in the world. And when building this expressway that you'll see up here, there used to be a slum underneath which used to be a den of iniquity. A lot of crime and prostitution and drug dealing and everything went on along here. But all those people were dispersed, and now they're kind of amongst the market here. So, got to be careful of pickpockets and things. But people are very friendly, and it is absolute pure energy here. This is the life center of planet Earth. Here's the blacksmith. Blacksmith. Wow. Look at this place. You good? Oh, wow. Thank you. They're so hospitable. Peace be upon you. America. New Zealand. Yeah. So, they've got ovens here. They're heating up the metal. Good job. Unbelievable. So, here in Bangladesh, instead of using the chopping board and a knife, then they use this kind of upside down piece of sharpened metal. And it's actually used from construction site rebar here. Nice angle grinder. So, here's a rickshaw, which is a three-wheeled bicycle that they take around like a taxi. And obviously, at the back here, you've got the axle. I'll show you what they do with this axle here. Here's the axle. And what they do is they make construction tools out of them. There's more of the rebar from the construction sites. And they just turn it into magic. Good. What's your name? Nick. Yeah, nice to meet you. My name is Jangid. Nice to meet you. Your name? My name is Jangid. Jangid. I'm Nick. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Peace be upon you. Do you speak Bangla? Bangla, no. A little bit. What was your name, sir? My name is Iman. MD Iman. Iman. What's your name? Nice to meet you. New Zealand? New Zealand. Nice country. And how old are you? Twenty-four. And is Bangladesh an okay country to live or not good? Bangladesh country is very beautiful, but... Opportunity? Opportunity, no. Right. No opportunity. Good opportunity, I will go to UK, Italy, Spain. Well, good luck. Nice to meet you. Thank you. We're inside the market now. And this is a local delicacy kind of that they do here called paan. And it's like a chewing tobacco, but it's got a bit of a twist. We're here with Jul. Would you mind explaining how this works, Jul? They take a betel leaf like this and then make a cone shape from this. And then they would remove the bud and then stuff it with a few pieces of betel nut. It looks like wood and also tastes like wood. I don't know why people chew this. It's kind of like a stimulant, right? I've heard that the betel nut is similar to like an enhanced coffee or something like that. The people working far away from home doesn't have access to the food all the time. For example, a farmer, they would always keep some pieces of betel leaf and betel nut and then keep that in the mouth for a longer time. So your brain confuses you that you're not hungry. You have at least something to chew. So when we start chewing betel leaf, we start with the hard ones. You see, they're pretty big. And then when your teeth are a bit fragile, then you move to that one or even the small one. And then the people who lose their tooth, then they choose this harder version of this. Oh, seriously? Yeah. So you start on this and your teeth get worn away and then you go to that. Yeah, so you literally see your future of chewing betel leaf. And then these are the raw tobacco. Some people would just mix it with the limestone and the betel nut together to chew. Because, you know, we have been smoking all our life, people in Bangladesh, and we have been growing our own tobacco. And those packet things on the back door, those are all perfumed tobacco with different kinds of flavor according to the preference of the people. // Native language // Jules just said 200 million hungry mouths and rising need a lot of food. So the density of the population is just so insane. Imagine how many people are starving and hungry while you get this absolute art here. As I'm sure you will know, health and well-being is all about consistency. For me, that consistency comes down to a daily foundation like AG1, the sponsor of today's video. I've been using AG1 for eight years now on a daily basis, way before they approached me for sponsorship. And it's something I genuinely rely on. I spend a lot of time traveling to countries like Bangladesh where access to a wide variety of nutrients, dense food isn't always guaranteed, especially on the long chaotic days like in this video. When I'm moving constantly, AG1 becomes an absolute must for me. In cities like Dhaka, the most densely populated city on the planet with 36 million people, the body needs all the help it can get to help the nervous system withstand that kind of insanity. AG1 is a daily nutrition drink made with over 70 high-quality ingredients, and plant compounds designed to help fill nutrient gaps and support energy, gut health and immune function in one simple scoop. I drink it every day, no matter where I am in the world, at home or in Bangladesh. Through my link, get a free AG1 sampler plus free vitamin D plus K2 and an AG1 welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription order. Massive thank you to AG1, a brand that keeps me traveling healthily. Let's get back to the video. Dose of reality here, we've got the goats ready and then over there, where they're gonna end. All these political posters here are just for this market managing committee. So, everybody's competing to be in the managing political role of this market. This isn't about the nationwide election, this is just for this market. Absolutely crazy. So, you've got all the fish guts and everything here. They collect them from the market area, they boil the fish fat, then they put it in these barrels here. And they sell that to soap manufacturers. Yeah, and they will be transformed into a soap that we use. What they do is they take all the shipping pallets and they turn them into beds. They turn them into beds in all kinds. You can get one of these beds for roughly about $7. They've got a reading desk here. Before the prayer, we have to wash ourselves a certain way and then if we dye our hair with the artificial dyeing from saloon or parlor, then maybe the holy water doesn't go through our beard and hair. So, maybe the prayer would not be accepted. Islam prescribes the natural thing always. So, we just pick up the henna leaf from the tree and then put everywhere we like because people in Bangladesh, they don't like the gray hair. So, I'm 43 now. People would consider maybe I'm more than 60 or something because of my gray hairs. People also in Bangladesh have affections towards the brown hair. And then we think the henna brings us closer to the brownish. So, it's vice versa for religious reason and also hide your age or the gray hair and then to make it a little bit closer to the Western culture. They keep all the leftovers and you see the scales here from the fish. They're actually sent to China and used in women's cosmetics. So, they just use every part of everything because you know in a city of 36 million people, any scent that you can get is putting you ahead of somebody else. So, here we are in the train tracks. They've built an expressway over the top and you can see somebody's just getting a nice haircut. As-salamu alaykum. Wa alaykum as-salam. Nice. Bangladesh is a big city. So, this is the main train track that goes in and out of Dhaka to the central station. And so, what happens when the train comes then everybody just jumps off the track and... Yeah, people jump off because there are trains coming every 10 minutes or so. And also, the salesmen you see on the active railway track, they are selling fish, vegetables and fruit. They will just move their thing when the train is coming and then after the train disappears, they would put it back again. I mean, this is daily life. So, these guys are currently replacing one of the concrete sleepers of the train track. And they have to quickly do it before the train comes. So, they pull it out manually. They're all wearing plastic sandals. And they're gonna fire a new one in underneath it before the train comes. Hey, show! Hey, Rana! Hey, show! Hey, Gopal! Hey, show! Hey, Akhilesh! Hey, show! So, the train's actually coming before they got the sleeper back in. So, hopefully it doesn't derail. Met Mustafa the singer here. Nice, brother. Thank you. Thank you. Nice to meet you. I'm Mustafa. These are all fish scales here. The lady was complaining about that they don't get the money they deserve. And they know they are sold for a higher price when they're exported. There are a few middlemen who makes the money and they don't. How much for one of these massive sacks? 65 Taka is a kilo. 90 kilos in one of the bags depending on the size. And you've got to scale the fish and collect it and then dry it out. Dry it, clean it. You see these makeshift slums next to the train tracks. They used to go all the way up to the train here. But I just saw a bulldozer go along here and just wipe any last bit of rubbish or anything out of the way. So, they definitely can't rebuild on there. As-salamu alaykum. Wa alaykum as-salam. Badminton? Just behind the train tracks in one of the slums here. We met this lovely local woman and she's... Do I need to take my shoes off? No problem, no problem. Okay. This is how people live next to the train tracks. How many people live in this house? She, her husband and a boy. Five people. Five people sleeps here in this... All on the bed or? Bed or... Right, both on the floor. $50 for the rent of this house. The electricity is free but you have to pay for your gasoline for cooking. 1500 taka a month. No fridge? No fridge. That's a luxury. Yes. In terms of living conditions in the slum, this is a nice house. I would consider it as a little bit upper class of the slum. Running to get this double-decker. And these amazing double-decker buses here in Bangladesh. How much does it cost? 20 taka for two of us. People don't move for ambulances just like everybody else. See the riot police behind me. That's a leftover from the times of the revolution. It's still a bit tense here and there's blockades everywhere ready to go out just in case. So, this is an electric rickshaw. Yes, it is. Things have changed. You guys are... Technology's advanced here. When I was last here, they had to pedal, right? Yeah, we made our own Tesla before the original Tesla was made. And we call them Tesla in Bangladesh. Really? Yeah. And since we have the flow of Chinese battery-powered rickshaw, they're ruining our lives. They're everywhere on the highway and they're speeding. And they go anywhere they shouldn't go. Right. And then the car, bus, and everyone has to just follow the flow staying behind them. What are you having? Special masala malai tea. Mixed masala, which is their secret. And then you have to mix them all together. So, you have a very thick tea. So, I'm probably going to gain 5 kilos of weight from this tea. Sweet? Wonderful. No, no. It's not sweet. Spice? Yeah. The spice and then the long time cooking of the milk. So, you have the flavor of the original milk. The milk is good. We play cricket with New Zealand and we import a lot of daily products. Milk, auto milk from New Zealand daily. Anchor. Yeah. Thank you for the tea. Okay. Nice to meet you. It's my pleasure, brother. Thank you. See you later. So, this is one of the most popular places to get biryani rice dish here in Dhaka. It's busy. Is it good biryani? Yes. Good. Very good. You're waiting a long time? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How long? It is a famous shop in all Dhaka city. It's very nice. Nice. A lot of people came here to... Delicious food. Okay. Yes. Wow. Good luck. Your country? New Zealand. Oh. Yeah. Thank you. A moment of peace in the back alleys of Dhaka. So dark from the towering buildings. They've even got streetlights in the middle of the day. Hi. Assalamu Alaikum. Walaikum Assalam. What's your name? Ji. Your name? Mohd. Liton. Huh? Mohd. Liton. Liton. Mohd. Liton. I like your hat. It's nice. I like your hat. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. And look, the light. The last building, if they have any emergency situation, how can the rescue team reach there? There must be some fire sometimes in these areas, no? Some fire or if we have earthquake, I don't know what will happen to the people and the buildings are quite fragile and very old. The old buildings in all Dhaka, maybe more than three, four hundred years old. And Bangladesh is overdue for a big earthquake, right? Yes. Yeah. Especially Dhaka is in a fault line, fault zone for the earthquake. So we are in really vulnerable situation. It's not only about the effects of the climate change. So this is another reason. Because you got rising seas as well, right? Sea level rising and the effects of the climate change are so visible on the coastal lines of Bangladesh all along. Few countries in the world are considered more vulnerable to the impact of rising sea levels and climate change than Bangladesh. In the most crowded city on earth by some rankings, tens of thousands who live in this slum settlement of Koral are so-called climate refugees whose previous homes were on land that no longer exists. When you have a natural disaster here, the casualties are so magnified because of the density of the population, you know? Exactly. It's not a big, big country. You've got like over how many, two hundred million people? Maybe over two hundred million people. And then the size of Bangladesh is not very, very big. So we have no options. People are staying wherever they are. That's where they have to live because they are forced by their life or environment, effects of the climate change, or you don't know. And there's nowhere to run, right? No. Where can you go when you are staying here? Where can you go? So come into this textile storage facility and as you know, probably you've probably seen one of your clothings in your lifetime with the Made in Bangladesh written on the label. And these are the kind of places that, you know, the fabric originates from. It's just these rabbit warrens of factories and textile plants. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Appreciate it. Check out this building here. This is an apartment. I don't know if this meets the earthquake safety standards. Bangladesh faces horrific floods every year and you can just imagine when this floods. Is it a problem with like sewage? Well, if we have three or four hours of heavy rain, then the street looks like a steam, water steam. When I was living in this area, often I had to come through the water like this. Seriously? Yeah. And it's full of like sewage and sewage and everything. But I was never afraid of the sewage thing because there could be electric line just somewhere and that could be, you know, end of your life. Right. So, it's like that's such a compounding of different dangers, right? When you have life threat, you don't care about the sewage or other things. Oh, he's a mute. He's a mute boy. So, how many people live in this room? Two daughters and a boy. Boy is the youngest. Is this the daughter here? This is the daughter. Assalamu alaikum. Nice to meet you. And what's the plan for the boy's future? Doctor advised her to bring a special school. We have some school in Dhaka, but it's tough for her to bring two of them into two different school because his school is quite far from here. And then she also need to accompany when she's traveling to her school and that is also far and different direction. He doesn't go to school anywhere. Reinforcement. Oh, yeah, the reinforcement up because of the cracks. So, if there's an earthquake here, then you don't want to imagine what would happen. This building... This is 6,000 taka rent a month, which is the same as that lady that didn't have the fridge by the slum, right? Yes. Squat toilet. What was your name, sir? My name is Monju. Monju. Yes. Nick. Thank you. Mohammed Lokman Hussain. Mohammed. Mohammed Lokman Hussain. Nick. His name is Nick. How is Dhaka? Dhaka is good. I'm staying here a long time. I'm always in Dhaka. Yeah. Is it peaceful? Peaceful is also better. Yeah, nothing wrong. Happy? Happy. We are happy. Lots of people, right? It's lots of people, yes. But friendly. It's friendly. It's working hard. They stay good. Yeah. Beautiful. Yes. All right. Thank you. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Yeah. Good luck. Thank you. Nice to meet you, man. All the best. Take care. Bye. A few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon. And a building that we're going to go to the roof of in old Dhaka here. No handrails. Oh, wow. I think it's like eight floors, maybe. Okay, so we're just on the rooftop and we met this lovely family and they invited me for lunch, which is so kind of them. So, how is life living here in old Dhaka? It's good. But a bit polluted. The environment pollution, air pollution causes a lot of... But all over we love old town because we love each other very much. I live in a joint family since 14 years. My mother-in-law, his brother, his brother's wife also live here. Wow, lovely. So, it's a good, really nice community. And how is Bangladesh at the moment? Because there's been some problems politically, right? Last government is not good. Right. And the old prime minister fled to India, right? But she just got the death sentence. But she's hiding in India, right? You didn't like her. Nobody liked her. She destroyed our country. Right. Destroyed our country. Right. And during her time, nobody can take their opinion. She was very controlling, right? She controlled the war. So, no democracy, no democracy. You think that the hard part is over and hopefully the future is positive? Inshallah, we hope so. Right, but you're not sure, right? No. Okay. I hope this next woman's situation is good. Thank you so much for your time. And I wish you good luck for everything. You join with us. No, I really appreciate that. But we've only got two hours of sunlight. We have to go to the river and things. So, yeah. Thank you so much. So, we've arrived at the river. And this is the Buriganga. This is one of the most incredible sights that I've witnessed on this planet after traveling to many countries. There's just something here that you can't really put your finger on. It's very special. The Buriganga never sleeps. It is always vibrant like this, millions of people. And if all the rivers of Bangladesh were roads, then Buriganga, this place, would be the main bus terminal of the country. Because this station, river station, connects all parts of Bangladesh. Every corner you can travel with, too. And then there are thousands of people living on the other side of the river. But they would be coming to Dhaka for their daily work, every day. Therefore, these country boats are used for. You see, there are hundreds and thousands of them everywhere. We're sitting here having some spicy tea. What is this? It's a masala tea, very strong. Ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, and then clove, bay leaf, all together for quite a long time. I'll explain what we just witnessed. But first of all, get on Jules' motorbike and go somewhere else. The riot police are starting now because things are getting out of hand in the city. So, you can see the streets have changed significantly. High-rise buildings. This is where the country is essentially... Wow, there's military there. What are those military doing? For the safety and security of this area. Yeah, because this is the head of the country. Because of the unrest. Yeah, yeah. Right. It's like heaps of soldiers around. So, yeah, this is where the country is essentially run from, the financial district or the diplomatic area. It's completely different vibes here. So, this is Dhaka, the city of 36 million people, currently going through a very historic moment with a revolution, unrest, political riots, police presence, military on the streets. This is the financial center of that city and of the country of Bangladesh. This is where all the money and everything happens here. What was happening at those protests? It was an absolute pandemonium. Three protests going on at the same time. One was demanding a big bridge to connect Borishal with Bhola district, to connect that corner with the mainland of Bangladesh. And that will definitely give us a milestone to achieve more financially. And then there were a few more protests next door. And one was about one of the folk singer were criticized and arrested or something happened to him. Because he was talking about the acceptance and their role in the country, not to politicize them. So, it's like censorship? Kind of like that, yeah. It's all different areas of the political spectrum. People making demands, right? 15 years of last government, people in many ways were deprived, they think. So, they have a lot of demands for changes, for positive changes for the people of the country. So, that's what the students were asking for. This is really the aristocratic zone of the country, where we have the diplomatic missions and the affluent communities of Bangladesh. And you also saw how densely populated the old Dhaka was. And some area we walked through, they were like the most densely populated area on earth. I love it how you're saying that was really densely populated, but right behind you is an insane intersection. But for Dhaka standards, this is actually relatively calm, right? Well, this is boring. I mean, if you are talking to a Dhaka guy, this is really boring. No people, not enough traffic. I mean, traffic is something where you are stuck for several hours. That's what the traffic is in Dhaka. Otherwise, no. It's pretty relaxing. And are you hopeful for the future of Bangladesh? Yeah, of course. Never give up. And we are hopeful that we will get through a good election and good government. And there would be a lot of positive changes to govern the people and the country because people in Bangladesh, they are nice. Very hardworking and you can make them whatever you want them to do, they would do. So, when you have 200 million of good people, and then if you can transform them into a good way, it can be a wonderful country. It can also be a hub. Look at Singapore. Look at our countries around this Bangladesh. And then what we don't have in Bangladesh. We have people. We have good land. We have everything. Just we need good leaders to tell us which direction to go. And then we are ready to accept anything. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Appreciate it. It's a pleasure. A huge thanks to Jul. You can see he's an absolute legend. I'll leave his information below if you ever want to come to Dhaka or Bangladesh as a whole and do any kind of tourism. He's your guy. As you can see, he's extremely knowledgeable and kind. He will show you the best of the best. And whatever you want to see, he will tailor your trip around that. As you can see, the people of Bangladesh are so kind and so hospitable. I love this country. I've been here a handful of times at least. And I'm sure I'll be back again in the future. Much love, Bangladesh. And I hope your future is a bright one. Thank you so much for watching. And in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night.