GCC remittances hit record $161 billion in 2025, highest globally

Dubai: Workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries sent a record $161 billion in remittances abroad in 2025, making the six-member bloc the world's largest source of outward worker remittances. The new data comes from the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf, or GCC-Stat.

The figure was 13.6 per cent higher than in 2024, an increase of about $19 billion, as demand for expatriate workers remained strong across the Gulf and economic activity expanded in infrastructure, services, industry and other non-oil sectors.

The increase also marked the second consecutive year of growth in GCC outward remittances after a decline in 2023, taking the total to its highest recorded level.

Based on GCC-Stat's figures, the GCC sent roughly $142 billion abroad in 2024, meaning remittance outflows increased by about $19 billion in a single year.

The scale of the Gulf's remittance flows is significant in global terms. The combined GCC total in 2025 was substantially higher than the $107 billion in outward worker remittances recorded by the United States. Switzerland recorded about $43 billion, Germany $27 billion and France $21 billion, according to the report

GCC-Stat attributed the increase partly to the continued attraction of expatriate workers as Gulf economies expand beyond hydrocarbons.

Large infrastructure programmes, construction activity, services, manufacturing and other non-oil industries continue to generate demand for foreign labour across the six GCC economies.

The report said worker remittances amounted to about 6.6 per cent of the GCC's combined gross domestic product in 2025, up from 6 per cent in 2024, 5.7 per cent in 2023 and 5.6 per cent in 2022.

GCC-Stat cautioned, however, that the ratio should be viewed as a measure of the relative weight of remittance flows compared with the size of the region's economies. It does not, on its own, indicate whether economic performance has improved or deteriorated.

The record remittance outflow provides an indication of the Gulf's continued importance as a destination for migrant workers and its growing role in global financial flows.

For countries receiving the money, remittances are an important source of household income and help finance consumption and other household needs. They can also provide a relatively stable source of foreign currency and support economic activity in recipient markets.

The Gulf's position is particularly significant because expatriate workers form a large part of its labour market. The region's economic diversification programmes have also broadened demand beyond traditional construction and energy-related jobs into areas including logistics, tourism, healthcare, technology, manufacturing and professional services.

The $161 billion figure puts the GCC's combined financial outflows on a different scale from those of individual major developed economies. It goes on to show that the bloc plays a major role as a global hub for migrant labour and cross-border financial flows.