Foreign workers exceeds 77,000

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

The total number of foreigners working in Maldives has exceeded seventy seven thousand, according to Employment and Social Security Ministry’s statistics.

Ministry’s statistics indicate that as of July, number of foreigners working in Maldives exceeded 77,000 and that most number of foreigners work in the construction industry. In this regard 32,247 foreigners are engaged in the construction industry; in second place is tourism industry, as of July this year, some 12,800 foreigners work in tourism sector.

According to Employment Ministry, most foreign workers come from Bangladesh. In this regard statistics indicate 34,658 Bangladeshi nationals are employed in Maldives. Indians form the second highest group and some 23,873 Indians were employed as of July this year.

8% of the expatriate population is women. In this regard in last June some 2000 foreign women took up employment in the country.

According to Employment Ministry’s statistics, over the past 5 years, most number of foreigners was brought in, in year 2007. In 2007, 10% more foreigners were brought in than 2006. In 2006 53,901 foreign workers were brought in and in 2007 a total of 70,075 foreign workers took up employment in Maldives.

Many in the country note that at a time when employment opportunities for Maldivian youth are getting scarce, the problem of increasing number of foreign workers has not been addressed. Although the official number of foreign workers remains at 77,455, many fears the actual number may well be over 100,000.

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