Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has remained the top destination for Bangladeshi manpower export in 2025, with 752,715 Bangladeshis securing employment in the nation.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, data from the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) indicates that 752,715 Bangladeshi nationals found jobs in KSA in 2025. Qatar was the second largest destination, receiving 107,472 workers, while Singapore and Kuwait took in 70,056 and 72,717 Bangladeshi workers, respectively.
Bangladesh marked a significant milestone by signing an agreement with Saudi Arabia for manpower export, the first of its kind in the 50-year history of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Meanwhile, Malaysia has introduced multi-visa arrangements for Bangladeshi expatriate workers.
BMET Additional Director General (Joint Secretary) Md Ashraf Hossain stated that Bangladesh managed to send nearly 11.17 lakh workers, including both males and females, abroad in 2025. The country had previously sent 13,03,453 workers in 2023 and 10,11,969 in 2024. Hossain emphasized the importance of safe, skilled, and regular migration and noted that the government is working to ensure this. He also highlighted the need for increased allocation to support these efforts.
Bangladesh has experienced a rise in remittance inflows since December of the previous year. Contributing factors include minimizing the gap between official and informal exchange rates and efforts to curb money laundering. From January to December 2025, expatriates sent approximately US$ 32,816.87 million in remittances. Bangladesh Bank reported that the country received a total of US$ 33.33 billion in remittances for the fiscal year 2024-25, an increase from US$ 23.91 billion in the previous fiscal year.
Bangladesh Bank data further revealed that remittances from July to December 29, 2025, amounted to US$ 16,079 million, compared to US$ 13,658 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year. Notably, remittance inflows crossed the US$ 30 billion mark for the first time in fiscal 2024-25, with a record increase of US$ 6.4 billion. The highest remittance previously received was US$ 24.8 billion in fiscal 2020-21.
Sources at the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment disclosed that the government is exploring new destinations, such as Russia, Brunei Darussalam, and Eastern Europe, to increase the export of skilled and semi-skilled manpower. Additionally, training programs are being conducted for nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers to develop skilled manpower for overseas employment.
Recruiting agents reported that while overseas employment faced setbacks in traditional destinations like Malaysia, the identification of new destinations and increased demand for Bangladeshi workers in several countries helped mitigate the situation.