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	411,093	34,281	445,374	1,294,088	115,922	1,410,010	1,342,408	31,434	1,373,842	1,412,777	87,179	1,499,956	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2016	473,169	35,893	509,062	1,387,950	121,137	1,509,087	1,469,483	35,453	1,504,936	1,497,088	95,489	1,592,577	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2017	457,024	38,888	495,912	1,440,153	126,629	1,566,782	1,464,340	38,468	1,502,808	1,498,130	98,210	1,596,340	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2018	461,656	41,350	503,006	1,493,772	131,817	1,625,589	1,395,278	39,875	1,435,153	1,537,024	105,474	1,642,498	6,681,256	214,258	6,895,514	NA	NA	NA
2019	455,867	43,132	498,999	1,501,843	138,987	1,640,830	1,322,240	41,715	1,363,955	1,549,772	102,179	1,651,951	6,211,869	226,017	6,437,886	NA	NA	NA
2020	421,048	38,974	460,022	1,361,740	132,393	1,494,133	1,078,982	36,340	1,115,322	1,459,967	147,420	1,607,387	6,057,344	222,801	6,280,145	NA	NA	NA
2021	408,298	40,187	448,485	1,233,774	128,828	1,362,602	1,067,974	39,600	1,107,574	1,453,991	130,127	1,584,118	5,935,882	238,296	6,174,178	NA	NA	NA
2022	450,676	45,642	496,318	1,354,090	146,461	1,500,551	1,314,124	45,652	1,359,776	1,504,757	160,528	1,665,285	6,945,931	281,757	7,227,688	NA	NA	NA
2023	NA	NA	NA	1,418,668	165,457	1,584,125	1,401,609	52,561	1,454,170	1,524,920	186,051	1,710,971	7,671,779	319,900	7,991,679	NA	NA	NA
2024	NA	NA	NA	1,482,606	183,388	1,665,994	1,374,759	58,365	1,433,124	NA	NA	NA	8,995,587	433,772	9,429,359	NA	NA	NA

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), Labour Market Information System.
Figures disaggregated by nationality or permitting estimates are not available.
No numerical data available since 2021 (percent distributions only).

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

Similar Posts:

• GCC: Total populations (nationals+non-nationals) employed in the private sector, by sex and GCC country (2015-2024)
• GCC: Population employed in the private sector and percentage of non-nationals in the sector in GCC countries (2015-2024)
• GCC: National populations employed in the private sector, by sex and GCC country (2015-2024)
• GCC: Number of employed workers and percentage of non-nationals in employed population in GCC countries (2015-2021) (private sector)
• GCC: Employed population by nationality (nationals/ non-nationals) and sector of employment (mid-2022)