New Delhi, August 13: At least 33,422 Indian workers died in the six Gulf countries between 2021 and 2025, according to data placed by the Ministry of External Affairs in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
The official figures show that the number of deaths was highest in 2021, at 7,740, before falling sharply to 5,937 in 2022. Deaths subsequently increased to 6,290 in 2023, 6,603 in 2024 and 6,852 in 2025.
The data cover Indian workers who died in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Ministry has not attributed these deaths to workplace accidents or any particular cause in the data table.
UAE records the highest number
The United Arab Emirates recorded the highest number of deaths, with 12,380 Indians reported dead during the five-year period. Saudi Arabia followed closely with 11,941 deaths.
Together, the two countries accounted for 24,321 deaths, or 72.8% of the total.
The UAE figure includes 9,815 deaths reported by the Indian Consulate General in Dubai and 2,565 by the Embassy in Abu Dhabi. Saudi Arabia recorded 6,415 deaths through the Embassy in Riyadh and another 5,526 through the Consulate General in Jeddah.
Kuwait reported 3,890 deaths over the five years, followed by Oman with 2,457, Qatar with 1,548 and Bahrain with 1,206.
Deaths rise rather than decline
Although the annual number fell by nearly 23% between 2021 and 2022, deaths have risen in every subsequent year. The 2025 figure of 6,852 was 3.8% higher than the 2024 figure of 6,603.
The figures therefore show a persistent mortality burden among the large Indian population living and working in the Gulf, rather than a steady year-on-year decline.
The Ministry said approximately 10 million Indian nationals reside in the six Gulf countries — 4.5 million in the UAE, 2.7 million in Saudi Arabia, 1 million in Kuwait, 8,20,000 in Qatar, 6,70,000 in Oman and 3,10,000 in Bahrain.
The figures were provided in response to a Rajya Sabha question on the plight of Indian migrant workers, including concerns about physically challenging working conditions, wage theft, debt and the Kafala sponsorship system.
Causes of deaths absent
The government’s response, however, does not provide a breakdown of the causes of the 33,422 deaths. That distinction is important: the available figures establish the scale of deaths among Indian workers in the Gulf, but they do not establish how many died because of workplace accidents, occupational illness, extreme weather, natural causes or other circumstances.
The five-year death toll thus provides a stark measure of the risks faced by India’s vast migrant workforce in the Gulf, while the absence of cause-wise data leaves unanswered the more critical question of how many of these deaths could have been prevented.
Government points to support mechanisms
The government said most Gulf countries have introduced reforms to their worker-hiring systems, including changes to the Kafala system and greater use of contract-based hiring. It also cited grievance mechanisms through Indian missions, 24×7 emergency channels, MADAD, CPGRAMS and eMigrate, as well as Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendras in Dubai, Jeddah and Riyadh.
