The 150.3 million migrant workers account for 72.7 per cent of the 232 million migrants globally. Of them, 8.8 million women are among the 11.5 million migrant domestic workers. Among migrant workers, 83.7 million (55 per cent) are men and 55.7 million (37 per cent) women, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Global Estimates on Migrant Workers showed.
Though labour migration is a phenomenon affecting all regions of the world, an overwhelmingly 74.7 per cent or 112.3 million people are in high income countries, 17.5 million in upper-middle income countries, 16.9 million or 11.33 per cent in lower-middle income countries including India.
India received 47.1 per cent of its remittances in 2012 from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. India and China are the largest recipients of officially recorded remittances in the world and together receive more remittances than the next six countries combined. India received 70 billion in the form of remittances in 2013.
This is the first time that such kind of data, based on estimates from 2013, has been put on a global and regional basis with a new methodology that has been developed.
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In 2013, almost every sixth domestic worker in the world
was an international migrant. About 73.4 per cent of all domestic workers are women of which South Eastern Asia and Pacific hold the largest share (24 per cent) followed by Northern, Southern and Western Europe (22.2 per cent) followed by Arab states (19.0 per cent).
The Arab states, however, hold 50.8 per cent of all male migrant worker.
"These (domestic workers and migrant domestic workers) are a group of workers that are particularly exposed and vulnerable to labour exploitation and to severe abuses. This is very much due to the fact, also, (that) in many countries domestic work is not regarded as work," Tomei added.
"These are invisible workers so the first thing to do in order to reduce vulnerability to exploitation is indeed recognising that these are workers... It is also very much connected to raising awareness not only about what discriminatory behaviour is and how it manifests itself but also valuing their work," Tomei told