ع
The Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf placed the combined value of outward worker remittances from the six member states at $161 billion for 2025. This total reflected a 13.6 percent rise from 2024, equivalent to an added $19 billion, and marked the second straight year of growth after a decline in 2023. The centre attributed the expansion to ongoing demand for expatriate labour that has accompanied broader economic activities in infrastructure development, services, industry and non-oil sectors.
Remittances accounted for roughly 6.6 percent of the GCC’s combined gross domestic product last year, according to the centre’s assessment, compared with 6.0 percent in 2024, 5.7 percent in 2023 and 5.6 percent in 2022. The report stressed that this ratio measures the relative weight of such flows against overall economic size and does not itself signal improvement or deterioration in performance. Over the longer term, the centre’s historical series shows remittances have risen nearly 46 percent since 2020 when the annual total stood at $110 billion.
GCC-Stat data positioned the bloc’s outflows ahead of those recorded by any single major economy, exceeding the $107 billion sent from the United States, $43 billion from Switzerland, $27 billion from Germany and $21 billion from France. The centre highlighted this standing to illustrate the region’s significance in global financial movements linked to migrant labour. Such transfers support household incomes, consumption and economic as well as social stability in the countries that receive them.
Within the GCC, the United Arab Emirates led with $62.1 billion in 2025, representing 38.7 percent of the bloc-wide total, the centre’s breakdown indicated. Saudi Arabia followed at approximately $58 billion after recording the highest growth rate of 26.9 percent among member states and contributing more than $12 billion of the overall regional increase. Kuwait saw remittances climb 18.2 percent to $16.7 billion while Qatar, Oman and Bahrain registered $11.9 billion, $9.5 billion and $2.5 billion respectively.
The surge occurred as the GCC population reached 63.3 million and non-oil activities, which comprised 70.6 percent of combined gross domestic product, expanded by 5.1 percent during the year, according to figures cited across multiple reports drawing on the centre’s release. Sustained infrastructure projects and diversification initiatives have continued to draw foreign workers even as member states advance localisation strategies. The centre’s report arrives amid ongoing policy efforts to balance economic growth with labour market reforms across the region.
GCC-Stat noted that the 2025 figure represents the highest level observed over the six-year period covered by its data series. The upward trajectory underscores the bloc’s deepening integration into global labour and financial networks. Detailed findings in the full publication offer further insights into destination countries and bilateral flows that shape these remittance patterns.
