Migration likely to cross 300,000

Sri Lanka’s yearly migration is to cross 300,000 individuals this year, despite the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) anticipating a decline below pre-crisis levels, SLBFE Chairperson Koshala Wickremasinghe told Derana on the Rebuild Sri Lanka show, aired on Saturday (27).

“Last year the total number of migrants who left were around 314,000 individuals. By around the middle of 2025, we surmised that this figure would not cross 300,000. However, by now around 277,000 individuals have migrated, and it is likely that migration levels will cross 300,000 migrants this year too,” Wickremasinghe said.

Sri Lanka saw its highest levels of migration since 2014 during its economic crisis of 2022, which saw approximately 313,642 departures. According to SLBFE data from 2022, significant migration of professionals from across the healthcare sector, those within engineering, architecture and IT professions was noted. This also included middle-level technical staff.

Though the Government of Sri Lanka expected migration levels to subsequently decrease with noted signs of economic stabilisation in 2023, migration dipped only by 4.2%. In 2024, migration once again crossed the 300,000 level with 313,642 recorded departures – exceeding the highest numbers seen in 2022.

“If you take migration data from 2019 onwards, the highest migration levels were recorded in 2024. It is likely that migration levels of 2025 are to match this figure,” Wickremasinghe added.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s (CBSL) Quarterly Bulletin of Workers’ Remittances and Labour Migration for Q4 is yet to be released. According to Wickremasinghe, migration destinations with the highest number of departures in the first ten months of the year include Kuwait, with approximately 66,000 migrants having departed during the year, the United Arab Emirates with 55,000 departures, Qatar with 38,000, Saudi Arabia with 31,000 departures, and Israel with 10,000 departures.

CBSL data on remittances received in the first ten months of this year shows that Sri Lanka received $ 712 million in workers’ remittances, reflecting a 20.1% increase compared to the corresponding period last year.

Source -  The Morning