The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are hugely dependent on
the expatriate workforce for developing their fast growing economies. According
to the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) statistics, around 35 million
people live in the GCC countries, of whom 40 percent are foreign workers. They
account for around 80 to 90 percent of the population in Qatar and the UAE, 60
percent in Kuwait, and 40 percent of the combined population of Bahrain and
Saudi Arabia (Al-Maeena, 2007). Salama (2013) reported that 15m expats in the
GCC countries send home $80 billion in remittance every year.