KARACHI: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates alone absorbed more than 77.5 percent of total 829,549 Pakistani expat workers in 2022, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2022-23 released on Thursday.

The yearly flagship publication of the Ministry of Finance highlights the trend of macro-economic indicators and development policies and strategies, as well as sectoral achievements of the economy.

The survey revealed that as of December 2022, more than 12.4 million Pakistanis had used official procedures to travel abroad for employment in over 50 countries including 829,549 Pakistani who travel in 2022.

“More than 96 percent of Pakistani registered workers for overseas employment are in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” the economic survey said. 

“They are contributing to the development of Pakistan’s economy by sending remittances, which is the major source of foreign exchange after exports.”

Citing data from the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BE&OE), the economic survey said more than 62 percent, or 514,725 Pakistanis workers, moved to Saudi Arabia followed by UAE, at 15.5 percent, to earn their livelihoods in 2022.

“Oman provided jobs to 82,380 or 9.9 percent and Qatar accommodated 57,984 or 7 percent Pakistani workers of different occupations,” the survey report said.

“Bahrain and Malaysia welcomed 13652 or 1.6 percent workers, and 6175 or 0.7 percent workers, respectively.”

The regional breakdown of those who traveled abroad during 2022 showed the highest number from Punjab (458, 241) followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (224,88) and Sindh (59,067).

The survey said Pakistan had developed a comprehensive diversification strategy developed for five top priority countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia, Qatar and Oman along with five potential and non-traditional countries such as Kuwait, South Korea, Japan, Germany and China to promote the export of manpower.