Plight of the poor: Foreign employment number soars as the underprivileged leave for a better future

Nepalis leaving the country for foreign employment has become the new normal. But in 2022/23, the number reached a record high. The Department of Foreign Employment reported that this year’s figures surpassed a nine-year-old record, indicating a significant increase in the outflow of Nepali workers seeking employment abroad.

According to Guru Datta Subedi, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Employment, in the fiscal year 2014/15, a total of 693,032 Nepalis left the country for foreign employment. In the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2022/2023, a staggering number of 740,739 individuals obtained labour permits to work abroad.