Muscat: The percentage of expatriates in Oman currently is at its lowest level in years. The fall indicates a sharp decline from 46 per cent in 2015 to the current 37 per cent according to data from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
The fall is mainly due to the retrenchment since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and also due to the intense Omanisation drive that got more focused attention in recent times.
Bangladeshis continued to lead the number of migrant workers in the Sultanate with 528,682, followed by Indians at 465,037, and Pakistanis in third position at 179,408.
The population ticker on the NCSI website indicated as of August 28, 4,424,121 people live in Oman. Of these, 62.8 per cent are Omanis and 37.2 per cent expatriates. The number of expats decreased by 10,000 in the last week alone. In Jult, expat numbers stood at 1,382,794, employed in various sectors including private, government and family business sectors. The private sector accounted for the maximum number of expats. The figures also show a noticeable and continuous decrease in the number of arrivals into the Sultanate.
Most of the expatriate residents were employed in the capital region, followed by Batinah of which Sohar is a key city and then by Dhofar region.
