Labour migration up 12% despite challenges

Labour migration from Bangladesh increased nearly 12 percent last year despite growing global restrictions, rising migration costs, and safety concerns for migrant workers.

More than 11.3 lakh Bangladeshis migrated abroad for work in 2025, with 67 percent of them heading to Saudi Arabia, according to data from the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training.

Although Bangladeshi workers migrated to 141 countries, about 90 percent went to just five countries -- Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, Kuwait, and the Maldives --according to the "Trends, Achievements and Challenges of Labour Migration from Bangladesh 2025" report by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU).

Bangladesh remains one of the world's top remittance-receiving countries, with migrant workers sending home a record $32.82 billion in 2025, the highest in 25 years, said the report, which was unveiled yesterday at an event held at the National Press Club.

Female labour migration continued to decline, raising serious concerns.

Only 62,317 women migrated for work in 2025, accounting for just 5.5 percent of total migrants.

The report links the decline to unsafe working conditions, violence against women workers abroad, negative media narratives and conservative social attitudes that discourage women from working outside the home.

Professional and highly skilled workers make up only 3 to 4 percent of total migration.

Weak training quality, a lack of international recognition of skills, budget shortages, vacant trainer positions and a lack of interest from recruiting agencies are identified as major barriers to skill-based migration, the report said.

RMMRU criticised the budget for fiscal 2025–26, which reduced allocations for the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry.

Despite recommendations to increase migration sector funding, the budget allocation declined from the previous year, with most funds again focused on infrastructure rather than worker protection and services.

The report also raised alarm over irregular migration and migrant deaths.

Between January and early October 2025, more than 15,000 Bangladeshi migrants arrived in Italy by sea, the highest among all nationalities.

This figure is nearly double that of the previous year, showing that dangerous migration routes remain active despite stricter border controls.

Several key developments in 2025 were discussed in the report.

For the first time, Bangladeshi migrants abroad were allowed to vote through a postal voting system using a mobile application called Postal Vote BD.

By the end of December 2025, more than 1.5 million migrants had registered for postal voting, marking a historic step toward political inclusion of migrant workers.

RMMRU called for urgent reforms to ensure good governance in the migration sector.

Key recommendations include increasing the national budget for migration, reducing the number of recruiting agencies, strengthening skill training and international recognition, ensuring women's safety in migration, digitising recruitment and certification systems, and holding agencies accountable for fraud and excessive fees.

Addressing the event, renowned photographer Shahidul Alam criticised corruption in recruitment agencies and Bangladeshi embassies abroad, calling them "centres of exploitation".

Migrants are forced to pay bribes even inside embassies through brokers, while basic facilities are denied to them.

He further pointed out that thousands of migrant workers' bodies return home every year, leaving families unable even to afford burial costs.

Stressing the need for structural reform, he said laws will not change unless decision-making shifts away from vested interests, and he demanded easier voting access for migrants, including a digital method.

"Those who shed blood for change rarely benefit from it. The benefits go to those in power, not the people who built this country with their labour," he said.