Across the Global South, the informal economy is not just a safety net; it is the primary driver of urban livelihoods. Millions of people rely on street vending to survive, providing essential, everyday services to urban populations. However, the legal and social standing of these workers varies drastically around the world. In some countries, the right to earn a livelihood on the street is increasingly recognized by law. For instance, India’s Street Vendors Act (2014) mandates local vending committees and formal surveys to protect vendors from arbitrary eviction, legally recognizing them as essential economic contributors.
In Bangladesh, the constitution guarantees the “right to life,” which the Supreme Court has historically interpreted to include the right to a livelihood. Yet, translating this legal framework to the realities of the street remains a challenge. Nearly 85% of Bangladesh’s workforce is engaged in informal employment. In Dhaka city alone, an estimated 300,000 street vendors operate daily. Despite their massive economic contribution, these micro-entrepreneurs operate in highly precarious conditions. Their daily lives are defined by regulatory uncertainty, the constant threat of eviction, and fierce competition over contested public spaces.
The sidewalks of Dhaka host a complex, invisible ecosystem. Vendors must continuously negotiate their right to space and survival, balancing their needs against the competing interests of permanent shopkeepers, local residents, and municipal authorities.
Historically, urban policy in many growing mega-cities has leaned toward treating street vendors as an “urban nuisance” or a traffic management issue rather than a socioeconomic reality. A major reason for this punitive approach is a lack of comprehensive data. Existing research has largely focused on isolated aspects of vendors’ lives. This leaves significant gaps in understanding the deep socio-political dimensions of street vending and how these daily tensions intersect with the vendors’ actual economic realities. You cannot protect the right to livelihood for a population if they remain statistically invisible to policymakers.
To address these critical gaps and support more informed urban governance, the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), in partnership with BRAC Advocacy for Social Change, has conducted a pivotal study titled Socioeconomic Profiling of Street Vendors in Bangladesh. With the final report soon to be published, the study aims to move beyond simple headcounts by situating vendors’ livelihoods within the broader legal and political context.
To build this comprehensive profile, BIGD researchers employed a mixed-methods approach to capture both macro-economic data and micro-level human experiences. On the quantitative side, a structured survey of 400 street vendors in Dhaka mapped out vital demographic profiles, income patterns, business types, and coping mechanisms. However, numbers alone cannot capture the daily negotiations of informal work. To deepen these survey findings, the research team utilized qualitative inquiries, including 10 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and 35 in-depth interviews. This qualitative dive was essential for exploring the lived experiences of the vendors and analyzing the conflicting stakeholder interests that shape the street-level policy environment.
The upcoming release of these findings is remarkably timely. The Government of Bangladesh has recently undertaken a new vendor zoning policy aimed at regulating informal street commerce. While zoning presents a potential step toward formalizing street vending, its success hinges entirely on execution. If drawn strictly as a spatial exercise without understanding the socioeconomic dynamics of the streets, zoning risks becoming a sanitized form of eviction. For the new zoning policy to be truly effective and to genuinely protect the constitutional right to a livelihood, it must be grounded in the lived realities of the workers it affects.
BIGD’s forthcoming report provides exactly this blueprint. By generating a robust, deeply researched socioeconomic profile, the initiative identifies priority areas for intervention. Providing policymakers with this evidence base is the necessary first step to ensure that modern urban planning initiatives, like vendor zoning, are inclusive, equitable, and ultimately secure the livelihoods of Dhaka’s most vital, yet invisible, workforce.
