ISLAMABAD – More than 11 million Pakistanis have left Pakistan since 1971to pursue employment opportunities elsewhere, according to emigrationstatistics released by the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment.
The report reveals that 11,052,663 workers registered for overseasemployment with the bureau between 1971 and November 2019.
Of the 11m that left Pakistan, 4.2m were labourers, the report said. Thecategory dominates figures for 2019 as well, with 217,499 labourers leavingthe country till November.
Behind labourers is the category of ‘drivers’, which accounts for 1.3mleaving the country since 1971, while the 2019 figure alone stands at161,226
The profession of photographers saw the least amount of brain drain, withonly 1,949 leaving for greener pastures over the last five decades.
Of the 11m manpower exports, 4.7m has been categorised as ‘skilled’ and4.6m as ‘unskilled’. Around 220,000 fall in the category of the ‘highlyqualified’.
According to a graph of the statistics, emigration of Pakistani workers hadbeen on a steady rise since 1971. Between 2015 and 2018, however, it sawthree consecutive years of decline — an unprecedented trend — beforepicking up again.
The ratio of manpower exports has once again risen sharply over the pastyear, with 563,018 Pakistanis leaving Pakistan in that period, according tothe statistics.
Saudi Arabia has been the most popular destination among Pakistani workersseeking employment opportunities. The report says 5.4m Pakistanisregistered as employees in the kingdom since 1971. Saudi Arabia also tookin the most number of Pakistanis in 2019, with the figure standing at294,156.
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United Arab Emirates is second on the list, having given employmentopportunities to 3.8m Pakistanis, while Oman (793,454) is third.
Punjab has seen the largest outflow of workers, with more than 5.3m leavingthe province for foreign opportunities since 1971. Following the largestprovince is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, whose manpower exports have been recordedat 2.65m, followed by Sindh (1m) and Azad Kashmir (679,763).
Pakistan’s sizeable workforce abroad repatriated $9.3m during the financialyear ending November 2019.
Pakistanis based in Saudi Arabia sent remittances to the tune of $2.1m,followed by UAE ($1.9m) and USA ($1.5m).
However, the percentage of remittances sent by USA and UK-based Pakistanishas been on the rise in the last few years, while monetary repatriation byMiddle East-based Pakistanis is declining.
During the year ending November 2019, Pakistanis in USA remitted 5.25 percent more money than in the previous fiscal year. Similarly, the Pakistanisworking in the UK sent 3.58 per cent more cash than the preceding year.
During the same period the remittances sent by Pakistanis based in SaudiArabia and the UAE shrank by 0.36 and 3.77 per cent respectively.
