What Would Your Life Look Like? | BRAC

A Rohingya Reality Check

What if this were
your family?

More than 1.2 million Rohingya people are living in the world's most densely populated refugee settlement in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. They are legally barred from working. Their survival depends entirely on humanitarian aid. This calculator puts your household in their place — and shows you what that means.

1.19M Rohingya people in Bangladesh
8+ yrs Average time in the camps since fleeing Myanmar
0 Legal right to work in Bangladesh
52% Are children under the age of 18

Step 1 — Build Your Household

Tell us about your family

The numbers below will update throughout the page to reflect your household's situation, were you a Rohingya refugee.

4 People in your household
— Calories available per day (household)
— Monthly food budget (entire family)
— Liters of water per day
🍚 Food

Your family's entire food budget: $48 a month.

That's not a grocery run. That's everything. No restaurant meals, no snacks, no backup. The World Food Programme provides cash assistance that Rohingya families use to buy all their food. In 2026, that dropped to as little as $7 per person per month for many families — while the rest of the world watched foreign aid budgets get slashed.

Rohingya household
Average American household
Monthly food budget
Rohingya household
$48
per month for 4 people
($12/person — best case scenario)
Average American household
$1,400
per month for 4 people
(~$350/person — USDA 2024 estimate)
Rohingya household food budget $48
American household food budget $1,400

Source: WFP Bangladesh (April 2026); USDA Thrifty Food Plan 2024

Daily calories per person
Rohingya household — WFP daily food basket 2,100 kcal

The minimum emergency standard. Just enough to survive — not thrive.

Average American daily intake 3,400 kcal

Source: USDA Economic Research Service

"It is very difficult to understand how we will survive now with only $7. Our children will suffer the most."

— Mohammed Rahim, camp resident, Cox's Bazar (April 2026, via Associated Press)

For your family of 4, this is what food actually looks like.
Your household's $48/month is the equivalent of a single dinner out for most American families — but for your Rohingya household, it has to cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, and every snack for 30 days. And it can't go further: Rohingya people are not legally allowed to work to supplement it. The food is what it is. There is no plan B.

In 2026, after global aid cuts, 17% of Rohingya households saw their support fall to just $7 per person per month — below what it costs to buy enough food in the local market.
💧 Water

Your family gets 96 liters of water a day. To do everything.

That's drinking, cooking, bathing, brushing teeth, washing clothes, and flushing the toilet — for your entire household. Rohingya families collect an average of 24 liters per person per day. That's it. No tap you can turn on a second time. No shower. No washing machine.

Rohingya household
Average American household
Daily household water (liters)
Rohingya household
96 L
per day
(24 L/person — April 2026 average)
Average American household
1,400 L
per day
(~350 L/person — EPA estimate)
Rohingya household daily water 96 L
American household daily water 1,400 L

Source: JRP WASH Sector (ISNA 2025); US EPA WaterSense

What does 24 liters actually look like?

🚿A 2-minute shower uses 15–20 L
🚽One toilet flush uses 6–12 L
🍳Cooking a meal uses 3–5 L
💧Drinking water needs: 2–3 L/person/day

24 liters per person covers drinking and cooking. Everything else — bathing, sanitation, laundry — is what's left over. In the camps, latrines are shared: 20 people share one functional toilet.

If WASH funding is cut, "the camps would become virtually uninhabitable within weeks."
The 2026 Joint Response Plan warned that without sustained WASH investment, the equivalent of two Olympic-size swimming pools of waste and three pools of sludge are produced every week across the camps. In 2025, WASH partners cut shallow tubewell maintenance, reduced water quality monitoring, and stopped recycling waste. Communities are now responsible for their own latrine repairs — with no tools and no funding.
🏥 Health & Education

Your family sees a doctor twice a year. And that's the plan.

Not because of distance or cost — because that is the entire service level the humanitarian system can fund. Two outpatient visits per person per year is the 2026 target in the camps. When a child gets sick in November and December, there are no more visits. And in 2026, the health budget was cut by 47%.

Rohingya household
8
doctor visits per year (entire family)
Target: 2 per person
Average American household
16
doctor visits per year (estimated)
~4 per person (CDC, 2023)

Source: JRP Health Sector (2026); CDC National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey

If your family gets sick, here's who the system can see this year

Each circle = one person. Pink circles = covered by 2 annual visits.

Health sector budget change, 2025 → 2026
−47%

The 2026 health budget is the "absolute minimum" needed to keep facilities open. Mobile clinics, medicine stockpiling, and physiotherapy have all been cut.

2 of your children need school.
The system can only reach 1.

In Cox's Bazar, 64% of children who need education can access a learning center. These aren't traditional schools — they're community learning centers, often in deteriorating shelters, where children share textbooks. Volunteer teachers are the backbone, and in 2026, even their small incentive stipends are at risk.

Children in Rohingya camps accessing education 64%
315,707 children

552,954 children in need — 237,247 still have no learning opportunity

US public school enrollment ~96%
National average

Source: National Center for Education Statistics (2023–24)

These children aren't failing school. School is failing them.
The funding shortfall in 2026 means fewer volunteer teachers, shared textbooks, and crumbling learning centers. The cost per child was cut from $160 to $120 per year — less than a third of what American schools spend per pupil per month. BRAC is one of the organizations working directly in these camps, running education and protection programs that reach tens of thousands of children. But BRAC cannot do this without sustained international support.

BRAC is the world's largest development organization, reaching over 100 million people across Asia and Africa. In Cox's Bazar, BRAC is one of the leading responders to the Rohingya crisis, delivering education, health, skills development, and protection programs across the camps.

Data Sources

Population: UNHCR/GoB Population Dashboard, Cox's Bazar — April 2026 (1,194,123 individuals; 248,169 families; avg. family size 5)

Food: WFP Bangladesh "Needs Based Food Assistance" announcement, April 3 2026; Associated Press/NPR reporting, April 1 2026; JRP 2025–26 Food Security Sector. US comparison: USDA Thrifty Food Plan 2024 (~$350/person/month); USDA ERS dietary intake data (~3,400 kcal/day).

Water: JRP 2026 WASH Sector (ISNA 2025 data: 24 L/person/day average; 20 persons per latrine). US comparison: US EPA WaterSense (~350 L/person/day).

Health: JRP 2026 Health Sector (2 OPD consultations/person/year target; 47% budget reduction from 2025). US comparison: CDC NAMCS (~4 visits/person/year).

Education: JRP 2026 Education Sector (552,954 children in need; 315,707 accessing learning = 64%; cost per child reduced to $120/year). US comparison: NCES 2023–24 (~96% enrollment rate).

This calculator is an educational tool produced by BRAC. All figures reflect 2025–2026 humanitarian data. American comparisons are approximations intended to illustrate scale.