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Published : 05 Jun 2026, 11:59 PM
The Chattogram district once dominated manpower exports to the West Asian labour market, but it has now started lagging behind.
Over the past few years, the Cumilla district has taken the lead, while Brahmanbaria and Chandpur are close behind.
Officials of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) say that people from Chattogram are losing interest in going abroad due to their particular inclinations towards certain countries, because they are not involved in all types of professions, and because of fresh employment opportunities in their own district.
According to BMET, Chattogram led in manpower exports in the Chattogram Division until 2005. After that, the Cumilla, Chandpur and Brahmanbaria districts started catching up.
Manpower exports from Chattogram have been declining since 2019.
According to data on the Overseas Employment Platform (OEP) on the BMET website, 87,524 people from Chattogram went abroad for jobs from January 1, 2023, to May 31 of this year.
Over this same period, 165,633 expatriate workers went abroad from Cumilla, 142,338 from Brahmanbaria, and 84,924 from Chandpur.
Though Chandpur is behind Chattogram if counting from 2023, it passes it if the count is from 2024.
In 2023, at least 7,408 workers went abroad from Chattogram, 15,138 from Cumilla, 14,653 from Brahmanbaria, and 1,044 from Chandpur. In 2024, a total of 38,162 workers went abroad from Chattogram, 73,733 from Cumilla, 59,927 from Brahmanbaria, and 40,754 from Chandpur. The next year, 41,833 people from Chattogram, 76,501 from Cumilla, 67,217 from Brahmanbaria, and 42,982 from Chandpur went abroad to work.
From January to May 31 of this year, 121 expatriate workers have left from Chattogram, 261 from Cumilla, 541 from Brahmanbaria and 144 from Chandpur.
According to those involved in manpower exports, people from Chattogram are mainly interested in going to Dubai and Oman among the West Asian destinations. People from Chattogram are involved in a number of industries there. Those who want to go abroad for the first time are also interested in going to the same locations to work in various business establishments.
Due to the visa ban and slow easing in these two countries, foreign travel has decreased substantially. However, a few expatriates from Chattogram have gone to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar. However, many people from Chattogram do not want to go abroad in search of jobs because of employment opportunities at home.
Zahirul Alam Majumder was in charge of the Chattogram Office of the BMET for more than a decade. He is currently serving as the deputy director (administration) of the organisation's head office.
He told bdnews24.com, "Workers from Bangladesh go to 176 countries around the world. However, people from Chattogram primarily go to certain West Asian countries, including Oman and Dubai (United Arab Emirates). Manpower exports from Chattogram have decreased due to visa restrictions in these countries."
Stating that 60 percent of the Bangladeshi workers going to Oman are from the Chattogram region, he said, "People from Chattogram prioritise regionalism, whereas people from other districts are interested in going to any country for work.
"However, people from Chattogram are a bit of an exception in that regard. They basically want to go to countries where there are more people from their area."
Zahirul also observed that people from Chattogram are not typically interested in doing all kinds of work. They are mainly interested in working in businesses and business organisations.
The BMET official said local employment opportunities are also having an impact.
"Different types of factories have been set up in Chattogram. Job opportunities have been created there, which has also increased the scope of work.
"If someone is in one profession, he can easily change to another profession, which is not possible in other regions."
Zahirul said, "People in the Chattogram region are comparatively less hardworking. Instead of going abroad and working extra hard, they have now started to consider staying at home and earning their income."
Md Abu Jafar, former chairman of the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB), agreed with these observations.
“People from Chattogram mainly want to go to Oman, Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The number of people from Chattogram going abroad has decreased due to visa restrictions in these countries.
“People from Chattogram do not want to work in all types of professions. Fewer of them go for jobs. They want to go into business. They go and get involved in business or commerce through relatives.”
Abu Jafar said, “There are different kinds of work in Chattogram, which people from other districts do not have access to. There are many countries where you have to work for a daily wage of Tk 800-900.”
“People from Chattogram do not go to these countries because their income at home is higher.”
