The Council of Ministers announced last week that the population of the Kingdom of Bahrain reached at the end of 2024 about 1,594,654 people.
This number means that the percentage of foreign -boundaries constitutes more than 53.4% (which is the declared percentage of the statistic of 2024), and in a country that does not exceed an area of 800 square kilometers, imposes serious questions about our ability as a state to adapt to this complex population composition, in terms of infrastructure, economy, and job opportunities, without arising from it that is difficult and economic challenges that are difficult to contain.
Foreign employment played a pivotal role in the Renaissance of Bahrain during the past decades, especially in craft sectors such as building and services, and even in advanced areas such as technology and industry. However, the wide dependence on the expatriate workforce, especially in medium and higher jobs, raises questions about the extent of citizens benefiting from the opportunities available within their homeland.
When foreigners make up more than half of the population, the local labor market is necessarily a great pressure. This high percentage opens the door to an unbalanced competition between the citizen and the expatriate, especially in light of the clear differences in wages and employment costs, which may be reflected in job and social security in the long run.
Personally, what I see is decreasing the current scene is an accurate analysis of the functional reality of foreigners, and I mean the need for answers to “numbers” and clearly for major questions such as: How many of them occupy vital functions that are already difficult “to” dispense with them now?! How many of them can be replaced by national competencies if we are seriously applied to “transfer experience” and with credibility, and we have added effective training and rehabilitation programs?! Transparency in this aspect is a key to developing rational and sustainable policies, and makes the citizen the first and the last as options and goal.
Here, effective policies must be developed to transfer knowledge and skills from foreigners to citizens, especially in the technical and advanced fields, as any reduction in foreign workers should not lead to a professional gap, but rather an opportunity to enhance local capabilities, provided that this is associated with reforms in transferring experience, training and employment, as we have shown above.
Systematic reduction in the numbers of expatriate workers does not mean forced dispensing, but rather an organized restructuring of the labor market priorities. In this regard, it is possible to start sectors that suffer from a clear surplus in foreign workers, such as low -skilled services, then graduating towards specialized jobs, which must be subject to a national replacement plan based on rehabilitation and empowerment.
In light of these numbers, we always wonder, can we, according to the existing capabilities, and despite the challenges that emerge for us periodically, can we contain this number of population and the high percentage of foreigners?! I mean here in terms of financial obligations, economic permanence, improving the standard of living, and guarding against the crime?!
The answers require a clear and conscious analysis, and the “interest of the citizen” and “dependence on it” and “trust in his capabilities” must be the criteria on which we build these answers, as with the current challenges, and with efforts to diversify the sources of revenues away from the main dependence on oil, any population inflation is increasing without control, especially in terms of attracting labor, will turn into a heavy economic burden.
The process of managing the foreign labor file in Bahrain should not be based on temporary reactions, but rather on a clear strategic vision, which looks at population and economic challenges as part of one equation. What is required is not only to control the numbers, but to redirect the foreign presence to be supportive of local growth, not a substitute for it, and here to replace the citizens of the slogan “The Complete Bahnah” is the supreme goal.
