The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern arm of the Indian Ocean, bounded by India to the west and northwest, Bangladesh to the north, Myanmar to the northeast, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the east.
Covering roughly 2.6 million square kilometres, the bay receives the outflow of some of Asia’s mightiest rivers — the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Godavari, Krishna and Mahanadi among them — which drain much of the Indian subcontinent and mainland Southeast Asia. These sediment-rich flows have built vast deltaic systems along its shores, including the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and a critical habitat for Bengal tigers, saltwater crocodiles and Irrawaddy dolphins. The bay’s coasts include some of the planet’s longest natural beaches, such as Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Marina Beach in India, and support diverse ecosystems shaped by monsoon cycles, tidal surges and freshwater inputs. Its waters and wetlands remain vital to millions of people dependent on fishing, agriculture and coastal livelihoods across South and Southeast Asia.
