Labour migration from Pakistan declined by 11 percent in 2016 to 840,000 people and this downward trend continues, as only 450,000 departures for overseas employment were recorded up to October 2017, says the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The ADB report 'Labor Migration in Asia, Increasing the Development Impact of Migration through Finance and Technology' states that Bangladesh appears to have replaced Pakistan as main labour force provider to Saudi Arabia in 2017.
The busiest corridor in 2016 was Pakistani labour migrants going to Saudi Arabia. Over 460,000 citizens of Pakistan followed this route, which represented an 11% drop, but it remains higher than any other year since 2005.
Germany received 209,000 new Asian migrants in 2015, almost 100,000 more than a year before. This is mostly due to the dramatic rise in migration from Afghanistan and, to a lesser extent, Pakistan. Indeed, 85,000 Afghans and 24,000 Pakistanis arrived in Germany in 2015, most of whom asked for asylum.
The report further states that 68% of Indian students in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in 2015 were enrolled at the master or doctorate level. The majority of students from Bangladesh (61%), Pakistan (55%), and Thailand (51%) were also studying at the highest levels.
Regarding receiving countries, India and the People's Republic of China (PRC) accounted for half of all Asian remittances in 2016, with India receiving $63 billion and the PRC receiving $61 billion.
The Philippines is the third main receiver in Asia, with 12% ($30 billion) of all Asian remittances in 2016. Following next is Pakistan, which received 9% of the continent's remittances.
Remittances from 2010 onward: the highest increase in the first half of the decade is observed for Myanmar (30 times). Remittances to Cambodia, Japan, Nepal, and Pakistan more than doubled between 2010 and 2016.
The largest source of Asian remittances is the US, which alone provided $52 billion to the continent in 2015. This represents one-fifth of all Asian remittances. Other important OECD sources are Canada which remitted $12 billion to Asia in 2016, and Australia, which remitted $8 billion.
Besides these three major sources, European countries, mainly the UK, matter in terms of the remittances that India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, and the PRC receive.
About one-third of all remittances flowing to Asia originated from the GCC countries, such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the second and third major sources of Asian remittances (after the US).
Remittances of about $31 billion from Saudi Arabia and $27 billion from the United Arab Emirates were sent to Asia in 2016. About 70% of remittances of Nepal and Pakistan and 56% of remittances of India are sent from the GCC countries. The Saudi Arabia has increased its share in remittances in Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan as well.
In Kazakhstan and Pakistan, securitized instruments on future remittances have been developed where banks issue remittance-backed bonds. The money raised is then invested to create multiplier effects on output and employment.
At the same time, Asia accounted for four of the top five remittance receivers in the world in 2016 - namely the PRC, India, Pakistan, and Philippines.