The Gulf now hosts a quarter of Nepalis abroad

Claim types Estimate

UN DESA Population Division, International Migrant Stock 2024, Table 1 (migrant stock at mid-year by sex, destination and origin, 1990-2024; edition POP/DB/MIG/Stock/Rev.2024), read from the UN DESA file via the progrss vault (§4.11, un-migrant-stock passes value_checks, 4 matches, 0 mismatches). Estimate: UN DESA's own mid-year estimates of people living outside their country of birth (or citizenship where birthplace is not recorded), a stock, not yearly flows; for destinations without a recent census or register the UN projects or holds earlier values, so small destinations can be flat for years. Nepal: 523,915 migrants abroad in 1990, 2,637,195 in 2024 across the 48 destinations the UN reports for Nepal; Gulf = Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain (16,012 in 1990; 637,318 in 2024); India 479,544 and 663,518; West = US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand (3,595 in 1990 and 498,175 in 2024); the UN reports no separate Nepal figure for the UK, Germany or most of Europe, so Nepalis there sit outside the 2.6 million (3,595 and 498,175). 'Everywhere else' (31.8% in 2024) holds Malaysia, Japan and the rest; the UN has held its Malaysia value (502,596) unchanged since 2015, so that destination's recent size is not measured. Nepalis on short Gulf work contracts may be counted only in part by host countries. No cause is claimed. Shares are progrss calculations: each destination group divided by the sum over all destinations the UN reports for that origin (same destination set in every year). Licence flag: the UN file is not marked commercial_ok in the vault, plates only. Claim type: Estimate; takeaway 3 is Fact on those estimates. The denominator equals the UN's own origin total for Nepal in its stock-by-origin file (523,915 in 1990, 2,637,195 in 2024).