The number of Filipinas in Kuwait dropped in 2018, according to statistics by the central statistics department. The number of Filipinas dropped from 161,500 at the end of 2017 to 138,500 by the end of the third quarter of last year, ie 23,000 in nine months.

Analysts speculated that the cause is related to the maids’ crisis that erupted last year. The total number (males and females) declined in the same period from 243,400 to 216,200, or 27,000 Filipinos who left the country in 9 months –12 percent of the total. The percentage of females of the total Filipinos who left the country is 86 percent.

Filipinos form the fourth-largest nationality among expat workers. Indians top the list with 889,000, followed by Egyptians 484,000 and Bangladeshis 271,000.