Bahrain			Kuwait			Oman			Qatar			Arabie Saoudite		UAE
	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females	Total
2015	71,170	30,028	101,198	34,219	36,020	70,239	159,375	50,245	209,620	7,517	4,154	11,671	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2016	71,235	30,932	102,167	35,032	36,228	71,260	168,995	54,088	223,083	5,685	4,368	10,053	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2017	71,830	31,972	103,802	35,185	36,053	71,238	178,021	60,667	238,688	5,910	4,300	10,210	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2018	72,023	33,191	105,214	36,011	36,949	72,960	187,090	65,042	252,132	6,175	4,145	10,320	1,161,574	542,399	1,703,973	NA	NA	NA
2019	72,545	34,280	106,825	36,341	36,892	73,233	191,768	70,565	262,333	6,197	3,659	9,856	1,141,812	558,892	1,700,704	NA	NA	NA
2020	71,015	33,670	104,685	36,352	36,629	72,981	256,210	96,525	352,735	5,270	3,241	8,511	1,147,595	599,161	1,746,756	NA	NA	34,510
2021	73,892	35,486	109,378	36,597	35,625	72,222	266,125	108,481	374,606	5,921	3,634	9,555	1,224,194	685,881	1,910,075	NA	NA	37,569
2022	76,115	37,114	113,229	37,063	34,770	71,833	267,580	115,599	383,179	5,666	4,262	9,928	1,333,348	861,197	2,194,545	NA	NA	60,136
2023	NA	NA	NA	37,751	35,079	72,830	275,334	124,469	399,803	6,509	4,215	10,724	1,357,494	943,097	2,300,591	NA	NA	91,773
2024	NA	NA	NA	38,705	35,036	73,741	281,657	123,059	404,716	NA	NA	NA	1,411,231	996,929	2,408,160	NA	NA	131,883

Sources: national institutes of statistics and relevant national institutions

1- Definitions and remarks:
Non-nationals are:

1- persons bearing nationality of a foreign State other than the GCC State of residence, or bearing no proof of nationality from any given state
(stateless persons and holders of refugee status and travel document in a third country);
2- Holders of residence permit residing in the given GCC country at date of census, as per definition of residence used in each of the countries.

Unless stated otherwise (if specific categories of workers are excluded from statistics, for instance), employment refers to: all persons of working age (15 and above), who during a reference period worked to produce goods or provide services for pay (cash or kind) or worked for profit from their own (or partially owned) business or worked without pay in the family business or with other individuals. It also includes those who have a temporary absence from a job during the reference period due to vacation or illness or any other reason.

Figures refer to workers employed in the private sector.
Reference period: end of year
Q4 of quarterly data published for Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
Annual data published for Oman, Qatar, UAE.

Bahrain: Labour Market Regulation Authority (LMRA). Bahrain Labour Market Indicators (BLMI), Q4 2022,
https://blmi.lmra.gov.bh/2022/12/mi_dashboard.xml

Employment data include all civilian employed persons in the private and public sectors (insured, uninsured and self-employed) and domestic workers.
Since Q1 2010, LMRA has been using data from LMRA Expat management System (EMS) to produce the total number of foreign worker employment in public and private sectors.
No data on employment after Q2 2023 in LMRA statistics.

Kuwait: Central Statistical Bureau. Integrated Database – LMIS, Q4 data, 2015 to 2024.
https://lmis.csb.gov.kw/
Data are taken from administrative records. The Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) maintains statistics on workers in the private sector.

Oman: National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI). Statistical Yearbook 2025, Chapter “Employment”
https://www.ncsi.gov.om/Elibrary/LibraryContentDoc/bar_bar_Statistical%20Year%20Book%202024%20Issue%2052_a0f3084d-42a7-4183-83c0-3c9e603f89b5.pdf
https://www.ncsi.gov.om/Pages/Publications.aspx
“Private sector” includes Private, Communal and Other Sectors.
2020 and after: employment data is taken from National Registration system (includes insured and uninsured employees).

Qatar: National Planning Council (NPC), formerly Planning and Statistics Authority. Annual Bulletins of Labour Force Sample Surveys 2015 to 2023
https://www.npc.qa/en/statistics/pages/subjectdetails.aspx
Population of reference: labour force, except for 2020 (employed population)
Labour Force Survey data are collected on a monthly basis, and based on field surveys.
Annual Bulletin of Labour Force Survey 2024 unavailable as of 17 November 2025.
Source 2020 data: census 2020.

Saudi Arabia: General Authority for Statistics (GAStat). Labour Market Statistics (2017-20222) and Register-based Labour Market Statistics (2023-2024), Q4 data.
2023-2025: available at:
https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/statistics-tabs/-/categories/417515?tab=436312&category=417515
Before 2023: available in the “archived data”:
https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/statistics?index=1317550
“social statistics”, and “labour force”
https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/statistics-tabs?tab=436312&category=1333429
2015-2016: Saudi Arabia Central Bank (SAMA). Yearly statistics
https://www.sama.gov.sa/en-US/EconomicReports/Pages/report.aspx?cid=127
From 2017 onwards, the data is taken from the administrative records of subscribers to the General Organization of Social Insurance (GOSI).
Population of reference: workers employed in the private sector, registered with the GOSI.
Data for 2015 and 2016 were not included, to keep consistency of sources.

UAE: Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE), “Open Data”; “Statistical Reports” section
https://www.mohre.gov.ae/assets/download/f13f2c67/Employment%20by%20Gender%202020%20-%202024_638941250942160725.xlsx.aspx
https://www.mohre.gov.ae/en/open-data/statistical-report
Definition: Total number of Emirati nationals officially registered and actively employed in private sector establishments during a specific period.
Based on ministry data and official labor systems.
Figures disaggregated by sex or figures for previous years are not available.

Last accessed: 17 November 2025
GLMM and GRC cannot guarantee that the link to access the source will not change;
that the information will not be removed from the website it was obtained from;
that no geo-blockages will be imposed; or that the information will not be available for any another reason.

Keywords: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Employment, Female Employment, Labour Market, National & Foreign Labour

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