A new international study has estimated that around 19 million people from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh migrated to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates between 2010 and 2023. This translates to an average of 1.35 million migrants every year, highlighting the scale of movement from South Asia to the Gulf region over the last decade.

The figures were published by researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria, and the University of Hong Kong. The study shows that migration from these three South Asian countries to the Gulf has exceeded other major migration routes around the world. For comparison, researchers noted that 13.6 million people moved from Mexico to the United States during the entire period from 1990 onwards.

The findings are part of a global migration map published in the journal Nature. According to the study, the Middle East recorded the highest total inflow of migrants worldwide. Most of these migrants came from South Asia and the Philippines. One of the largest migration corridors identified was between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Since 2010, migration from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia has averaged nearly 3,00,000 people every year.

The study suggests that migration has become increasingly common across the world since the beginning of the century. Researchers observed that migration levels generally continued to rise after 2000. Temporary declines were recorded only during major global disruptions such as the 2008-09 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Commenting on the findings, co-author Guy Abel, a research scholar in the migration and sustainable development research group of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IASA) Population and Just Societies Program, said, "Our annual data provides a clearer picture, revealing that this (migration) rate has actually risen since 2000."

He further added, "This upward trend appears to be driven by long-term demographic shifts and economic development rather than sudden, isolated crises."

The researchers said they have created the first dataset that tracks migration flows between all countries from 1990 to 2023. According to them, this provides a much more detailed understanding of global migration patterns than existing sources of information. Traditional migration datasets are often incomplete and fragmented, making it difficult to capture the full picture of population movement.

The study states, "We estimate that, since 2010, a total of 19 million people, averaging 1.35 million per year, migrated from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE."

The authors explained that most current migration analyses depend heavily on migrant population data released by the United Nations every five years and by the World Bank every ten years. While these datasets remain important, they only provide a snapshot of migration at specific moments in time.

Because of this limitation, many major events affecting migration have not always been properly reflected in available data. Researchers noted that wars, economic recessions, pandemics, and climate-related disasters can significantly influence migration patterns. However, such changes are often missed when data is collected only at long intervals.

The team believes that more detailed migration information can help governments and policymakers make better decisions. Accurate and timely migration data can support crisis response efforts, improve public service planning, and provide a deeper understanding of changing global migration trends.

Researchers also highlighted the importance of the dataset for studying migration in the Global South. They noted that migration data in many developing regions has historically been less detailed and less accessible than in countries of the Global North. The new dataset could therefore help fill important information gaps and improve understanding of migration movements in these regions.

To build the database, the researchers used deep learning algorithms and combined information from multiple sources. These included official statistics, census records, and other migration-related datasets. Geographic and economic factors were also incorporated into the analysis to produce more accurate estimates of migration flows between countries.

Apart from the large-scale movement into the Middle East, the study identified other major migration trends across the world. Europe consistently recorded the highest volume of migration within its own region. The only exception occurred in the early 1990s, when Sub-Saharan Africa briefly surpassed Europe due to population movements linked to the Rwandan civil war.

Overall, the migration map presents one of the most comprehensive pictures of global human movement ever assembled. By tracking migration annually from 1990 to 2023, the study offers a clearer view of how economic opportunities, demographic changes, conflicts, and global events continue to shape migration patterns around the world. The findings also underline the growing importance of South Asia as a major source of international migrants and the Gulf region as one of the world's leading destinations for workers and job seekers.