Remittances from the GCC - statistics & facts
After the United States, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are among the leading senders of migrant remittances. The discovery of oil and gas reserves on the Arabian Peninsula, followed by the independence of Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the middle of the 20th century, led to a strong influx of foreign workers. The majority of those foreign workers hailed from the South Asian subcontinent, followed by other Asian and African countries. Sending back remittances was a leading reason for those foreign workers to pick up work assignments in the GCC region. Today, the workforce of the GCC region consists of over 70 percent of migrant workers.
