The poll, which was based on interviews with 1,200 Filipino adults nationwide, also showed that 17 % of adult Filipinos intend to live abroad in the future. According to estimations of the Philippine Statistics Authority, there were 1.83 million of Filipinos working abroad in 2021, more than 60 % of them women.
The Social Weather Stations also found that the most popular countries for working abroad were Canada (16 %), Saudi Arabia (12 %), Kuwait (9 %), United Arab Emirates (9 %), Japan (7 %), Qatar (6 %) and the United States of America (6 %). In 2021, 78 % of overseas Filipinos worked in Asia, most of them in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The survey also indicated that 7 % of Filipino households already have a family member working abroad. Most of these households (75 %) claimed they often receive money from the family member working overseas, while 17 % declared they receive money sometimes, 5 % seldom and 3 % never. Money from abroad is considered to be a cornerstone of the country’s economy, with record figures reported in 2022 ($32.14 billion).