Pakistan’s Workforce in the Gulf: 50 Years of Migration in Numbers (2026)

By Editorial Team, Pakistan Progressive Associates (PPA)

Quick Answer: Between 1971 and mid-2026, more than 15.1 million Pakistani workers registered for overseas employment, and Saudi Arabia has been the single largest destination for all of it, taking in about 7.87 million of them, more than half the total. In 2025, Pakistan sent 762,499 workers abroad, of whom 530,256, roughly seven in ten, went to Saudi Arabia. The Gulf as a whole absorbs the overwhelming majority of Pakistan's outbound workforce, and those workers sent home a record 38.3 billion US dollars in remittances in the 2025 fiscal year. All figures below come from Pakistan's Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment and the State Bank of Pakistan.

For half a century, the movement of Pakistani workers to the Gulf has been one of the largest sustained labour migrations in the world, and it is documented in detail by Pakistan's own Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BEOE). This piece sets out what the official numbers actually say: how many workers, going where, doing what, and what they send home.

Fifty years, 15 million workers

BEOE has recorded every worker who registered for overseas employment since 1971. By mid-2026 that cumulative total reached 15,130,831. To put that in perspective, that is a number of people larger than the population of many countries, moving abroad for work across five decades, one registration at a time.

The annual flow is not steady. It rises and falls with Gulf construction cycles, oil prices and global events. Recent years show the swing clearly:

The collapse in 2020 and 2021 reflects the pandemic, when Gulf hiring and travel stalled. The rebound from 2022 onward shows demand returning, with 2023, 2024 and 2025 all back above 700,000 a year.

Saudi Arabia is, and always has been, number one

Of the 54 destination countries BEOE tracks, Saudi Arabia sits at the top of the list, and it is not close. Across the full 1971 to 2026 record, about 7.87 million Pakistani workers have gone to Saudi Arabia, roughly 52 percent of all overseas registrations. The next largest lifetime destination, the United Arab Emirates, accounts for about 4.48 million.

The Saudi share has been climbing again in recent years:

In 2025, Saudi Arabia alone accounted for roughly 70 percent of every Pakistani worker who went abroad that year, up from about 62 percent in 2024. For any employer in the Kingdom, the takeaway is simple: the Pakistan to Saudi Arabia hiring corridor is the most established and highest-volume workforce channel of its kind, with five decades of continuous flow behind it.

Beyond the Gulf: the other five percent

For all the Gulf’s dominance, Pakistanis do work well beyond it, and the same official data records where. Of the 15,130,831 workers registered for overseas employment since 1971, about 713,633, just under five percent, went to destinations outside the six Gulf states. The largest have been Malaysia, Iraq and Libya, followed by the United Kingdom, Italy, Cyprus and South Korea, with smaller numbers reaching China, Iran, Turkey, Greece and the United States, among many others. It is a long list of destinations, but a thin one: no single non-Gulf country comes close to even the smallest Gulf destination. Pakistan’s overseas workforce is, overwhelmingly, a Gulf story, though not only a Gulf story.

Figures are cumulative from 1971 to mid-2026. A further 98,886 workers are recorded under an “other countries” category, with smaller numbers going to many more destinations.

Who actually goes: the trades behind the numbers

The official statistics also record what kind of work these migrants do, and this is where the picture gets practical for employers. BEOE groups registrations by skill level. In 2024, the breakdown was:

Skilled and highly skilled workers together made up a large share of the flow, which matters because Gulf projects increasingly need trade-tested competence, not just headcount. Drilling into the occupational detail for 2024, BEOE recorded 364,574 labourers, 185,209 drivers, 14,938 masons, 10,895 electricians, 8,018 engineers and 3,642 doctors, among many other categories. The Pakistani workforce going to the Gulf is not one uniform group; it spans everything from general labour to engineers and medical professionals.

The money that comes back

The scale of this migration is matched by the scale of what flows home. In the 2025 fiscal year, Pakistan received a record 38.3 billion US dollars in workers' remittances, according to the State Bank of Pakistan, up from 30.25 billion the year before. Saudi Arabia was the single largest source at 9.34 billion dollars, ahead of the UAE at 7.83 billion. Together, those two Gulf states sent home more than 17 billion dollars in a single year, close to half of the national total.

Remittances on this scale are one of the most important pillars of Pakistan's economy, and the Gulf, led by Saudi Arabia, is where most of them originate.

What the data means for Gulf employers

Read together, the numbers describe a mature, well-documented and government-regulated labour corridor, not an informal one. Every one of those 15 million registrations passed through Pakistan's Bureau of Emigration system. For an employer in Saudi Arabia or the wider Gulf, that history is a practical asset: it means a deep, experienced pool of workers who have done the journey before, a regulated process with clear protectorate and attestation steps, and licensed overseas employment promoters who run that process end to end.

It also underlines why the sourcing partner matters. A flow this large includes every skill level, so the difference between a strong hire and a weak one comes down to trade testing and screening, not availability. That is the gap a licensed promoter is meant to close.

How PPA fits

Pakistan Progressive Associates has been part of this corridor for the whole modern span of it, supplying skilled and technical workforce from Pakistan to Gulf employers since 1975 as a government-licensed Overseas Employment Promoter (License 0332/LHR). We source, trade-test through accredited third-party centres, and handle medical, attestation and visa processing so workers arrive deployment-ready. Explore our manpower supply in Saudi Arabia, construction manpower and oil and gas manpower pages, or our recruitment agency service. For the rules around hiring, see our guides to Saudi labour law for employers and Nitaqat and Saudization.

Frequently asked questions

How many Pakistani workers have gone to the Gulf? Since 1971, more than 15.1 million Pakistanis have registered for overseas employment, and the large majority have gone to the Gulf. Saudi Arabia alone has taken about 7.87 million, and the UAE about 4.48 million, according to Pakistan's Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment.

Which country hires the most Pakistani workers? Saudi Arabia, by a wide margin. It has been the top destination across the entire 1971 to 2026 record and took in 530,256 Pakistani workers in 2025, roughly 70 percent of the year's total.

What kinds of jobs do Pakistani workers do in the Gulf? Every level, from general labourers and drivers to skilled tradespeople such as masons and electricians, through to engineers and doctors. In 2024, skilled and highly skilled workers together made up a large share of registrations.

How much do overseas Pakistanis send home? A record 38.3 billion US dollars in the 2025 fiscal year, according to the State Bank of Pakistan, with Saudi Arabia the single largest source at 9.34 billion dollars.

Where does this data come from? Pakistan's Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment publishes the emigration statistics, and the State Bank of Pakistan publishes the remittance figures. Both are official government sources.

Do Pakistani workers only go to the Gulf? No. The Gulf accounts for about 95 percent of all Pakistani overseas employment since 1971, but roughly 713,633 workers, just under five percent, have gone to other destinations, led by Malaysia, Iraq, Libya, the United Kingdom and Italy, according to the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment.

Sources

• Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BEOE), Government of Pakistan, official emigration statistics 1971 to 2026: https://beoe.gov.pk/ (country-wise, occupation-wise and category-wise statements).
• State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), workers' remittances data, FY2025, as reported by Arab News: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2607475/pakistan and corroborated by Business Recorder: https://www.brecorder.com/news/40371820
• Pakistan Progressive Associates, licensed Overseas Employment Promoter (License 0332/LHR), operating since 1975.