A Rohingya Reality Check
What if this were
your family?
Nearly 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.
Step 1 β 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.
Were you a Rohingya refugee, life would look different. Here's a snapshot.*
Your family's entire food budget: $48 a month.
That single figure covers 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 April 2026, WFP moved to a tiered system: $12, $10, or $7 per person per month, depending on a household's assessed level of food insecurity. About 17% of the population receives the lowest amount.
Choose a tier to see your household at that level of support. About a third of the population receives $12; roughly 17% receives $7.
($12/person β extremely food insecure tier)
(~$330/person β BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2023)
Source: WFP Bangladesh (April 2026); US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey 2023
The minimum emergency standard. Enough to survive, and little more.
Source: USDA Economic Research Service, per-capita food availability data
"It is very difficult to understand how we will survive now with only $7. Our children will suffer the most."
β Mohammed Rahim, camp resident, Cox's Bazar (April 2026, via the Associated Press)
In 2026, about 17% of the Rohingya population saw their support fall to just $7 per person per month. WFP's own analysis says even that amount is enough to meet the 2,100-calorie minimum. The AP reported that Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner disagreed. Instead, he called the change exactly what it is for the Rohingya, a ration cut, and warned that people will feel more desperate, and attempt to flee in search of food and work. Families like Mohammed Rahim's are the ones left to make the math work.
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.
(24 L/person β 2025 camp average)
(~300 L/person β US EPA WaterSense)
Source: JRP WASH Sector (ISNA 2025); US EPA WaterSense
What does 24 liters actually look like?
24 liters per person covers drinking and cooking. It's not enough for bathing, sanitation, and laundry. In the camps, latrines are shared: 24 people share one functional toilet. The 2025 target was 20.
Your family sees a doctor twice a year. And that's the plan.
Two outpatient visits per person per year: that is the minimum service level the humanitarian health system plans and budgets for in 2026. In practice, clinics stretch to see people when they can. In 2025 they managed about four visits per person, on par with the American average. But the 2026 health funding appeal was cut by 47% from the year before, and mobile clinics, medicine stockpiles, specialized services, and staffing have all been reduced. The plan, and the budget behind it, now assumes half the care.
Planned minimum: 2 per person
~4 per person (CDC)
Source: JRP Health Sector (2026 planned minimum: β₯2 consultations/person/year; 2025 achieved: ~4); CDC National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey
Your family's year of healthcare, visit by visit
Each circle = one doctor's visit this year. Pink = what the camp health plan funds for your family. Gray = the additional visits a typical American family the same size would make.
The 2026 health funding appeal is 47% lower than 2025, described in the Joint Response Plan as the bare minimum to keep facilities open. Mobile clinics, medicine stockpiling, and specialized services have been reduced, with physiotherapy restricted to life-saving cases.
2 of your children need school.
Last year, the system could reach only 1.
In 2025, the education response in Cox's Bazar reached only 64% of the children it set out to serve. And far more children need school than the system even targets. Most of these schools are 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.
552,954 Rohingya children (ages 3β18) need education. In 2025, partners reached 315,707 of the 493,556 children targeted. That figure includes host-community children, so the share of Rohingya children in school is lower still.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (2023β24)
Population: UNHCR/GoB Population Dashboard, Cox's Bazar β April 2026 (1,194,123 individuals; 248,169 families; avg. family size 5)
Food: WFP Bangladesh "Needs Based Food Assistance" announcement, April 3 2026 (tiers of $12/$10/$7 per person/month in Cox's Bazar); Associated Press/NPR reporting, April 1 2026 (~17% of population at $7; about a third at $12); JRP 2025β26 Food Security Sector (2,100 kcal/person/day food basket). US comparisons: BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2023 (~$330/person/month on food); USDA ERS per-capita food availability (~3,400 kcal/day).
Water: JRP 2026 WASH Sector β ISNA 2025 / WASH Infrastructure Monitoring, Aug 2025 (24 L/person/day collected vs. β₯25 L target; 24 persons per functional latrine vs. 20 target). US comparison: US EPA WaterSense (~300 L/person/day).
Health: JRP 2026 Health Sector (planned minimum of β₯2 outpatient consultations/person/year; ~4 achieved in 2025; 47% reduction in the 2026 funding appeal vs. 2025). US comparison: CDC NAMCS (~4 visits/person/year).
Education: JRP 2026 Education Sector (552,954 Rohingya children aged 3β18 in need; 315,707 of 493,556 targeted children reached in 2025 = 64%, including host-community children; cost per child reduced from $160 to $120/year). US comparisons: NCES 2023β24 (~96% school enrollment of 5- to 17-year-olds; ~$15,600 per-pupil public school spending).
*This calculator is intended to be an illustration of lived experience in two vastly different contexts. It is in no way an exact read.
This calculator is an experiential tool produced by BRAC USA. All figures reflect a mix of 2025β2026 humanitarian data as well as average American consumption and nutrition data available as of June 2026.