Kerala emigration to Saudi Arabia: prospects under the Nitaqat law

A majority of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries exhibit demographic imbalances, to different degrees, owing to a high percentage of non-nationals in the population, and their expanding youth populations. Demographic trends have a decisive influence on a country’s economic, labour and population policies and migration is a key social policy intervention that allows governments to control and regulate the volume and nature of its demographic base. Beginning in the 1970s, the GCC has woken up to the challenges posed by its shifting demographics and implemented a series of corrective policy measures that aim to bring about governmentally administered changes in population — both quantitative and qualitative.