Expatriate workers are sending back billions of USD as remittance to their family and relatives in Bangladesh, making a significant contribution to the country’s economy, but the government authorities have been unable to keep an authentic record tracking their numbers.
The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) data shows that more than 1.5 core expatriates went overseas for a living since 1976. But the bureau does not keep a record on how many of them have returned home permanently since then.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Bank – in a report on remittance inflow in the first four months of FY24 – mentioned that the families and relatives of expatriate workers received $6.89 billion as remittance, and 94.52 lakh people left for abroad on jobs since FY10.
The confusion has been fueled further by the recently released Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) National Report of Population and Housing Census-2022, as it came up with different data on the number of expatriates.
As per the report, after surveying families across the country, the BBS found that 50.53 lakh people are currently living abroad. They have also found that 4.66 lakh Bangladesh expatriates have returned home from abroad permanently in the two years preceding the census.
The different records prepared and kept by the government bodies have raised questions on which one should be used as a reference while defining the actual number of the Bangladeshi expatriates.
BBS mentions that they collected the number of expatriates by speaking with their families across the country. The data is on their family members who are Bangladeshi citizens and staying abroad for at least six months preceding the census enumeration.
The bureau collected data for one week in 2022.
Among the 50.53 lakhs expatriates, the highest 40.61 per cent was recorded in Chattogram division, followed by Dhaka at 28.32 per cent, according to the BBS.
Joint Secretary of the Statistics and Informatics Division under the BBS Dr Dipankar Roy said, “The BMET data is cumulative. Their figure shows the total number of people who went abroad since 1976, and our data is about how many people are currently living abroad.”
“Our data is based on a point of time, and there is a reference value of six months. Many people have just left the country permanently. They do not have any households in Bangladesh. We could not bring them under the census.”
He further said, “Only those who have been abroad for more than six months, have been included. But those who came to the country on leave during the census period were not considered as expatriates. They are considered as members of households.
“We have gone door to door to collect information. We have prepared the report by including specific information on who gave the information, and how many are abroad in response to the question whether they have received remittances in the last six months.”
Dr Roy urged to quote the source, either the BMET or the BBS, while presenting the data anywhere, adding, “We need to do further analysis to get an exact figure in the future.”
Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) Executive Director Dr Ahsan H Mansur said, “Fifty lakh is the minimum figure. It can be a little more. But it will not match with the BMET data as they do not keep record of the returnees.
“For example, expat workers go to Middle Eastern countries on a three-year contract. If the contracts are not renewed, they return home. The census data should be analysed further to get a complete picture of the country’s migration situation.”
On the issue, Planning Minister MA Mannan recently said, “The government will work further on the numbers of the expatriates. We will speak to the BBS and other relevant authorities for further fine tuning of the data.”
Mannan also recommended conducting the population census operations every five years, and instead of carrying this out every 10 years.
‘Flawed headcount’
Migration and anti-trafficking expert Shariful Hasan, who is also the associate director of BRAC, said, “An absence of proper data leads to a flawed headcount of migrant workers. For example, if an expatriate goes to Saudi Arabia and returns after two years, then again go to Oman or Qatar, Bangladesh’s authorities will count him on every exit.
“Besides, flawed or absence of complete data also hinders the government’s drive to encourage expatriate workers to send remittance through legal channels, because we do not know exactly how many workers we have and how they are remitting their money home.”
He added, “The government struggles to know the manpower market’s current situation due to a lack of updated data, and often fails to make effective decisions to identify the proper steps to explore potential markets.
“We now have digitised passports and NIDs. It should not be difficult to find out how many people we have in the foreign labour market by documenting them into a dedicated system.”
