Profiles of Returned Migrants
The sample includes 155 respondents: 95% were male
and 5% were female. Roughly half of respondents were
in Jessore district and half in Cox’s Bazar (see table 1
above for a complete list of districts). The age of
respondents was quite mixed, with 34% between the
ages of 32-38, 29% between 25-31, and 19% between
39-45 years.
Table 2: Age group of respondents (n=152)
Age Group
% of Respondents
18 - 24
7%
25 – 31
30%
32 – 38
34%
39 - 45
19%
46 – 52
7%
53 years of age or older
3%
Over half of respondents were working in either
construction (31%) or manufacturing/factory work (21%)
in the destination country. Of those who were working
in construction (47 respondents), the majority returned
from Saudi Arabia (15 respondents) or Malaysia (14
respondents). Those who were working in
manufacturing/factory work (33 respondents), almost
half were employed in Malaysia, followed by Singapore
(9), and Saudi Arabia (5).
Figure 2: Type of job respondents had in destination
country (n=154)
Construction
Manufacturing/factory
work
Other
Nearly all respondents (97%) reported returning to
Bangladesh more than a month ago.4
Domestic Work
Retail/Vendor
Figure 1: Primary countries of return, by respondents
Agriculture
Count
The majority of respondents (68%) returned from the
Persian Gulf states of Saudi Arabia (44 respondents),
United Arab Emirates (24 respondents), and Oman (9).
More than a quarter of respondents (28%) returned
from Malaysia, while 10% returned from Singapore.5
5% 4%
7%
31%
8%
8%
Hospitality/Restaurant
Driver/Transportation
16%
21%
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Malaysia
Saudi
Arabia
United Arab Singapore
Emirates
Oman
Country
4
Surveys were conducted between May 15 –June 4.
5
Countries with less than 10 returnees include Brunei, France,
India, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Thailand.