The featured image for our infographics illustrating the annual number of Pakistani migrants from 2015 to 2025 and the distribution of Pakistani migrants by destination country based on 2023 data.

Tracking Pakistan’s Migration Rate & the Top 10 Preferred Host Nations

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Pakistan’s brain drain is not about ambition alone—it’s about what happens when opportunity runs out at home. While migration from Pakistan fluctuates with global conditions, there is no denying the fact that Pakistan is becoming a nation that educates its youth, only to watch them leave.

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Based on data from the Pakistan Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, Pakistan’s emigration patterns have shown significant volatility over the past decade. The number of migrants peaked in 2015 at approximately 940,000 before experiencing a sharp decline, reaching a low of roughly 225,000 in 2020, likely due to global pandemic restrictions. However, a rapid resurgence followed, with figures climbing back to over 800,000 by 2023, though the trend appears to be slightly cooling as of 2025, but not as much as it did in 2020.

The infographic shows a line graph of the annual number of people migrating from Pakistan from 2015 to 2025. The data points show a peak of approximately 940,000 in 2015, followed by a steady decline to roughly 380,000 in 2018. There is a brief recovery in 2019 (625,000) before a sharp drop to a decade-low of about 225,000 in 2020. The rate then surges back up to over 800,000 in 2022 and 2023, with a slight downward trend to roughly 680,000 by 2025.

Regarding destinations, the 2023 BEOE dataset reveals a heavy reliance on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Saudi Arabia is the primary destination, hosting nearly half of all Pakistani migrants at 49.5%. This is followed by the UAE (26.7%), Oman (7.0%), and Qatar (6.4%).

Beyond the Middle East, smaller percentages of the population migrate to Malaysia (2.4%), the UK (1.9%), and various European nations like Romania and Greece. 

This infographic shows the top 10 countries hosting the most Pakistani migrants. Saudi Arabia leads the chart with 49.5% of the Pakistani migrant population, followed by UAE (26.7%), Oman (7.0%), and Qatar (6.4%). Other top destinations include Malaysia (2.4%), the UK (1.9%), Bahrain (1.5%), Romania (0.6%), Iraq (0.5%), and Greece (0.3%).

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