Remittances sent by workers in Kuwait to other countries rose 18.2 percent in 2025 to about $16.7 billion, giving Kuwait the second-highest growth rate among GCC countries after Saudi Arabia and the third-largest remittance value after the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Data from the Statistical Center for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf showed that worker remittances account for a significant share of Kuwait’s economy. Remittances were equivalent to 10.6 percent of Kuwait’s GDP in 2025, one of the highest ratios in the GCC.
The ratio stood at 10.1 percent in the UAE, 8.7 percent in Oman, 5.5 percent in Qatar, 5.2 percent in Bahrain and 4.6 percent in Saudi Arabia. Across the GCC, workers transferred about $161 billion abroad in 2025, marking a 13.6 percent increase from 2024 and an additional $19 billion.
The total also represented the highest level recorded during the six-year period covered by the data. GCC worker remittances rose from about $110 billion in 2020 to $127 billion in 2021, $132 billion in 2022, $128 billion in 2023 and $142 billion in 2024. Comparing 2020 with 2025, total GCC remittances increased by about $51 billion, or nearly 46 percent.
UAE leads GCC
The UAE recorded the highest value of worker remittances among GCC countries in 2025, at about $62.1 billion, up 6.3 percent and accounting for 38.7 percent of total GCC remittances. Saudi Arabia ranked second with about $58 billion, while recording the highest growth rate in the Gulf at 26.9 percent. Saudi Arabia accounted for about $12.3 billion of the overall increase in GCC remittances during the year.
Together, the UAE and Saudi Arabia accounted for about 74.8 percent of total GCC worker remittances.
Qatar recorded about $11.9 billion, up 4.7 percent, while Oman recorded $9.5 billion, an increase of 2.7 percent. Bahrain recorded about $2.5 billion, down 4.3 percent, making it the only GCC country to register a decline in worker remittances during 2025.
Remittances rise relative to GCC GDP
Worker remittances across the GCC as a whole increased to 6.6 percent of GDP in 2025, compared with 6 percent in 2024, 5.6 percent in 2023, 5.7 percent in 2022 and 6.8 percent in 2021. The report linked the continued increase in remittances to the GCC’s continued attraction of expatriate workers, alongside the expansion of economic activity in infrastructure projects, services, industry and non-oil sectors.
Globally, worker remittances from the United States reached $107 billion, while Switzerland recorded about $43 billion, Germany $27 billion and France $21 billion.
