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Demography of the Gulf Region

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Book cover South Asian Migration in the Gulf

Abstract

The economic development in post-1973 oil epoch in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries resulted in large-scale import of manpower from abroad due to an investment in education, healthcare, and sanitation by the GCC authorities. Given this context, this chapter examines the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the Gulf region and the role that migration has played in the Gulf economy. Among the South Asian nations, the higher share of migrants living in GCC countries to total migrants is from India, followed by Pakistan and Bangladesh. The pull factor was, of course, higher wages for the migrants along with the fact that the immigrants hailing from South Asia are willing to immigrate without their families. It is also evident that majority of non-nationals in GCC countries were confined to blue-collar jobs, but this is now changing, leading to brain drain from those countries. This chapter analyzes the role of migration from South Asian countries to the GCC region and its influences on the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the GCC countries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    S. Irudaya Rajan

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  1. S. Irudaya Rajan
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, Business School, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, United Kingdom

    Mehdi Chowdhury

  2. Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    S. Irudaya Rajan

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Rajan, S.I. (2018). Demography of the Gulf Region. In: Chowdhury, M., Irudaya Rajan, S. (eds) South Asian Migration in the Gulf. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71821-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71821-7_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71820-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71821-7

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

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