Overseas Filipino Worker

This article is about Filipino migrant workers. For the Filipino diaspora in general, see Overseas Filipinos.

Overseas Filipino Workers
OFWs in Brunei
Total population
2.3 million[1][2] (2019)
Regions with significant populations
 Saudi Arabia494,000
 United Arab Emirates291,000
 Hong Kong165,000
 Taiwan147,234
 Kuwait136,000
 Qatar123,000
Languages
Filipino (national), English (co-official)
Philippine languages, Arabic
Religion
Christianity (majority), Islam
Related ethnic groups
Filipinos (Overseas Filipinos)

Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a term often used to refer to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of employment.[3] The number of these workers was roughly 1.77 million between April and September 2020. Of these, female workers comprised a larger portion, making up 59.6 percent, or 1.06 million. However, this number declined to 405.62 thousand between 2019 and 2020.[4]

OFW money remittances to relatives in the Philippines are a major contributor to the Philippine economy, reaching a total of P1.9 trillion in 2022, which represented some 8.9% of the Philippines' Gross Domestic Product.[3]

  1. ^ "Total Number of OFWs Estimated at 2.2 Million". Philippine Statistics Authority. June 4, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  2. ^ "Table 3: Distribution of Overseas Filipino Workers by Region of Origin and Place of Work Abroad: 2019". Philippine Statistics Authority. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Villegas, Bernardo M. (August 1, 2023). "OFWs as a permanent phenomenon". Business World. Archived from the original on August 2, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference psa17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).