About 6.1 million Nepalese have come to Europe and Africa including the Gulf countries in the last decade with work permits
In the last one decade, 6.698 thousand 80 Nepali workers have reached 173 countries in search of work. In which there are 5681 thousand 627 males and 416 thousand 453 females.
This number is only those who have legally received work permit from the Department of Foreign Employment from January 1, 2014 to July 16, 2024. Moreover, the number of people who went without obtaining work permit from the department through personal access or other means is not in the government records. In the last decade, no work permits have been obtained to go to Libya, Syria, Burma, Mexico, Djibouti, Ecuador and Guyana. Spokesperson of the
department, Gurudatta Subedi, said that as people's access increased, Nepalis were scattered all over the world. "It seems that they are going to work on the basis of personal access even in countries that are not heard of in the trend," he said, "Manpower companies are going to certain countries in terms of institutionalization."
16 lakh 6 thousand 521 people have reached the highest number of people in Qatar after taking work permit from the department. At least one person seems to have reached Suriname. So far, the main destination for Nepali workers is the Gulf countries and Malaysia. 80 percent of Nepali workers are the same," he said, "a small number are in Europe, Africa and other countries."
According to him, the department has only kept the details of workers going abroad. It seems that as many Nepalis leave every day, the same number return. The flight to return to Nepal is not empty,' he said, 'There is data of those who have gone, but they have not returned.' According to the 2078 census, only 2.2 million Nepalis are outside the country.
According to the International Labor Organization's public report on Sunday, migrant workers from around the world have begun to concentrate in the northern, southern and western regions of Europe, North America and Arab countries. According to the
report, the number of migrant workers in these areas has increased to 23.3 percent by 2022. There are 167.7 million migrant workers worldwide, 74.9 percent of whom are between the ages of 25 and 54. According to the report, 68.4% of the migrant workers who went there are working in the service sector, 24.3% in industry and 7.4% in agriculture.
'Migrant workers are indispensable to address global labor shortages and contribute to economic growth,' ILO Director General Gilbert F. Hongbo said in releasing the report, 'Ensuring their rights and access to decent work is not only a moral imperative, but also an economic necessity.'
In Nepal, economically active age group population is 61 percent. This is a situation where demographics take advantage. Out of this, 42.56 percent of the population is in the highly active age group of 16 to 40 years.
"There is a lack of employment here, in the absence of productive employment and decent work opportunities, a large number of young people are going to foreign employment to earn a living," labor expert Dr. Ganesh Gurung said, 'Nepalese have strengthened the economy which was in crisis due to the expansion of the international market.' From the point of view of households receiving remittances, 56 percent of the households, i.e. more than half of Nepalis, are focused on their relatives abroad.
40-year-old Dhan Rai from Bhojpur, who has been working in the UAE for 6 years, is doing plumbing work. "He didn't have to leave the UAE after he got the skills, my family has moved," he said.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), since 1970, the economic growth of the countries of the Gulf Coordination Council due to the export of petroleum products has led to a high demand for workers in the fields of construction, distribution and services. As a result, those countries became important labor markets for Nepal and other countries.
Those countries have more non-citizens than their own citizens. 88 percent of the United Arab Emirates, 79 percent of Qatar, 72 percent of Kuwait and 45 percent of Bahrain are immigrants. Labor migration to the Gulf countries has increased significantly since the late 1990s and early 2000s.
According to the Migrant Nepali Coordinating Committee, only 1.5 percent of the migrant workers have received 'free visa, free ticket'. Still a high number of workers are forced to pay the fee ranging from 80 to 180 thousand. Workers are becoming victims of human trafficking, smuggling and excessive use of forced labour. According to
studies, workers are most likely to suffer from contractual problems. Their contract itself is changed. 22 percent of workers do not get paid wages. The number of workers who cannot return to Nepal in time is 22 percent. 16 percent are stranded in the destination country without work.
It has been seen that many have experienced problems in occupational safety and health. A thousand workers die every year due to lack of proper health care and unsafe workplaces. 10,000 people have died in the last decade alone. Many migrant workers are in jail.
General Secretary of Nepal Trade Union Federation (Gifant) Laxman Kumar Sharma said that despite the increasing number of workers with technical skills and competence instead of unskilled workers in foreign employment, there has been no reduction in fraud during employment. "The rate of death and amputation in migration has not decreased, it is necessary for the government to pay attention to this and take effective action," he said.
