Table 7.1: Year-wise overseas employment by age

Officially there is no data on the age of the migrant workers from Bangladesh. However, research studies conducted on the migrant workers give an idea that most of them are below the age of 30 when they first migrate. One study¹ showed that the highest number of the respondents (38%) migrated first time between the age of 21-25. Another 27.5% belonged to the age group 26-30 years. 90% of the total respondents migrated for the first time before they reached 35 years of age. According to another study on Bangladeshi female migrant workers, migration is more common among the age group of 20-25 years.² 76% of the female migrant workers interviewed were below the age of 30 years. 25 of them (8%) had migrated before they reached adulthood.

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1.Siddiqui, Tasneem and C R Abrar, 2002, Contribution of Returnee Migrants in Socio-economic Development of Bangladesh: An Analytical Research, Geneva: International Organization for Migration (IOM), p. 20. This study was conducted on 200 returnee male migrants in 2000. They were randomly selected from the districts of Dhaka, Comilla, Chittagong and Madaripur.

2.Siddiqui, Tasneem, 2001, Transcending Boundaries: Labour Migration of Females from Bangladesh, Dhaka: University Press Limited p. 96. The study was conducted on 200 female migrant workers in 1999.