Bangladeshi worker deployment to Saudi Arabia hits record high

In a historic milestone, over 750,000 Bangladeshi workers migrated to Saudi Arabia in 2025, marking the highest number of workers ever sent to a single country in a single year, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).

Speaking to the media on Friday, 2 January, BMET’s Additional Director General, Ashraf Hossain, said, “More than 750,000 Bangladeshi workers went to Saudi Arabia last year. This is the first time such a large number of workers from Bangladesh have been deployed to a single country within a year.”

BMET statistics show that in 2025, over 1.1 million Bangladeshi workers went abroad for employment, with more than two-thirds choosing Saudi Arabia as their destination. Currently, approximately 3.5 million Bangladeshis live and work in Saudi Arabia. Since the 1970s, Bangladeshi expatriates have been a significant workforce in the Kingdom, now representing its largest expatriate community. These workers collectively remit over USD 5 billion annually to Bangladesh, bolstering the national economy.

Compared with 2024, the number of Bangladeshi workers sent to Saudi Arabia in 2025 increased by nearly 16 percent. In 2024, around 628,000 workers migrated to the Kingdom, highlighting a substantial year-on-year growth.

Recent trends reflect a growing focus on sending skilled workers abroad. Since the introduction of Saudi Arabia’s “Skill Verification Programme” in Bangladesh in 2023, prospective workers undergo professional skill assessments before deployment. This initiative has strengthened Bangladesh’s labour export quality and improved the employability of its workforce in Saudi Arabia.

Further boosting opportunities, a new labour agreement between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia was signed in October 2025. The pact enhances worker protection, ensures timely wage payments, and improves welfare and healthcare services. Additionally, the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 initiatives, particularly in the construction sector, are expected to generate nearly 300,000 new employment opportunities for Bangladeshi workers in 2026.

Bangladeshi Worker Migration to Saudi Arabia (2024–2025)

This record-breaking deployment underscores Bangladesh’s pivotal role in supplying manpower to international markets, particularly in the Gulf region, and highlights ongoing collaboration between Dhaka and Riyadh to ensure safe, skilled, and well-regulated migration.