• Only 27.6% migrated for employment, more chose education purposes
• Over 910,000 passports issued last year

Over 1.1 million Sri Lankans have left the country in 2022 with a monthly average of about 94,000 while only 27.6% of total departures have left for foreign employment purposes, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) data showed.

According to a report released by the Foreign Remittances Facilitation Department (FRFD) of the Central Bank, 1,127,758 Sri Lankans have departed the country (including migrant workers) in 2022, after issuing 911,757 passports in the year.

Clarifying the data, FRFD told The Daily Morning Business that the low number of migrant workers as a percentage of total departures in 2022 (compared to 43.8% in 2021) shows that more Sri Lankans have migrated or gone overseas for education purposes in 2022, rather than seeking foreign employment. 

Data showed that a total of 311,269 have left the country for foreign employment in 2022 with a monthly average of 25,939, and destination of 84.7% of the total migrant worker departures was to the Middle East, 6.3% to Asia (excluding South Asia) and 4% to the European Union.

Nearly 60% of the migrant workers are concentrated in the semi-skilled and low-skilled categories, female participation in foreign employment is highly concentrated in the semi-skilled category, while male participation is concentrated in the skilled category.

Of the total departures, 60% were males and the highest percentage of male migrant workers (20%) are in the age group of 25 - 29 years, whereas most of the female workers (20%) are in the age group of 40 - 44 years.

Furthermore, the data showed that out of the Middle East destinations, Kuwait and Qatar are the main destinations of male and female migrant workers, and thereby they contributed to the highest inflow of remittances in 2022, with $ 139.7 million from Kuwait and $ 131.9 million from Qatar.

Moreover, the Central Bank said that $ 182.8 million in remittances were received through some of the Global remittance channels, Apps and other channels which could not be categorised country-wise.

Therefore, the Central Bank said that the improvement in the inflow of workers' remittances witnessed in recent months was in line with the higher departures for foreign employment, as Q3 and Q4 saw 51% of the total migrant worker departures for 2022.