Labour migration statistics

According to the 2021 ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers, in 2019, there were over 24 million migrant workers in the Arab States, of whom 19.9 million were men and 4.2 million were women, comprising 14.3 per cent of the 169 million migrant workers globally. Arab States were among the top countries hosting migrant workers in the world after the Americas (25.6 per cent) and Europe and Central Asia (37.7 per cent), and ahead of Asia and the Pacific (14.2 per cent) and Africa (8 per cent). The Arab States also registered the largest share of migrant workers as a proportion of all workers in the world, at 41.4 per cent. This share has increased steadily since 2013, when it stood at 35.6 per cent.

Despite the high numbers of migrant workers and their importance to labour markets in the region, labour migration statistics in the Arab States remain relatively limited in terms of quantity, sources and quality. The status of the production of labour migration statistics in the region is fragmented. Few countries conduct regular labour force and household surveys or develop their administrative records to be statistically usable for estimating labour migration. Among the 12 Arab States falling under the remit of the ILO Regional Office for Arab States, the statistics of only four countries could be taken into account in the preparation of the ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers.