The constituency was created when, ahead of the 2008 general election, the Election Commission redrew constituency boundaries to reflect population changes revealed by the 2001 Bangladesh census.[3] The 2008 redistricting added a new seat to Chattogram District, increasing the number of constituencies in the district to 16.[4] The seat for Sandwip Upazila was renumbered from Chittagong-3 to Chittagong-16, and seats 2 through 7 were shuffled around so that the three metropolitan seats (Chittagong-8, 9, and 10) could be split into four (Chittagong-7, 8, 9, and 10).[5][6]
Ahead of the 2014 general election, the Election Commission renumbered the seat for Sandwip Upazila from Chattogram-16 back to Chittagong-3, bumping up by one the suffix of the former constituency of that name and the higher numbered constituencies in the district. Thus Chattogram-16 covers the area covered in 2008 by Chittagong-15.[6][2]