Migrant workers are facing acute mental health crises in destination countries as they struggle with unemployment, loans, unpaid wages, exploitation, family-related stress, loneliness and cultural shock as there is no mental health support system in place.
Rights activists and migration experts said that although migrants endure a wide range of hardship abroad, often in isolation from their families, neither destination countries nor Bangladesh provides them with structured psychosocial support.
According to statistics from the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board, the state agency under the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry responsible for repatriating bodies of deceased migrant workers, more than 20,000 bodies were brought back to Bangladesh from different countries in the past five years.
WEWB data show that 31 per cent of migrant worker deaths recorded abroad are classified as ‘abnormal’, including road accidents, workplace falls, other accidental deaths, and suicides.
Based on these reports from destination countries, an estimated 700 migrant workers died by suicide during the past five years.
Bangladesh does not conduct any second, independent autopsy on repatriated bodies, leaving the accuracy of these classifications unverified.
Additionally, non-governmental organisation Brac reported that nearly 150 migrant workers with severe mental disorders were deported from destination countries and taken into their care during the past five years.
Experts say that the actual number of mentally distressed returnees is likely to be much higher.
Brac associate director and head of its migration programme, Shariful Hasan, said that they have provided mental health support to more than 15,000 migrants in recent years through 30 psychosocial counselling centres across the country.
He noted that many deaths reported abroad as heart attacks or strokes may be linked to unaddressed mental health conditions.
‘Our findings show that psychological distress begins from the moment migrants leave home for the high migration cost that they collect on loans. These challenges intensify abroad, especially when they face exploitation or isolation,’ he said.
After returning to Bangladesh, many migrants, especially those who come back suddenly, struggle in the country due to unemployment.
Shariful said that financial crisis, debt pressure and social stigma further deteriorate their mental health after their return.
Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit founding chair Tasneem Siddiqui said that mental health support should be a priority for migrant workers, but the government struggles even to ensure basic physical healthcare.
‘Many so-called suicide cases are not purely suicides. In the cases of women, a significant number are victims of abuse,’ she said, adding that all deceased migrants should undergo autopsies in Bangladesh to ensure accountability and prevent further deaths.
She recommended regular community gatherings for migrant workers in destination countries, along with embassy-run counselling services to help reduce their stress, isolation and vulnerability.
She also urged the authorities to take immediate steps to reduce migration costs, reality-based orientation and insurance for migrants.
WEWB director ATM Mahbub-ul Karim said that while the government provides mental health support to returnee migrants under a project implemented in Bangladesh, there is no such service available in the destination country.
He said that labour wings at embassies lack the capacity to offer such support.
‘We cannot even appoint lawyers at all missions to ensure legal support for the migrants,’ he said.
‘During pre-departure orientation, we inform migrants about mental health issues, but continuous support in host countries is still missing,’ he said.
The story of Ruma Akter Salma, a domestic worker who reportedly died by suicide in 2022, reflects the systemic gaps.
Her husband Rabiul Islam said that the family received her body five months after her death.
Ruma migrated as a domestic worker and was compelled to change employers within two months.
‘She was kept under constant pressure in the last house she worked in. She could not speak to us for months because her employer forbade her,’ Rabiul said.
Mental health professionals in Bangladesh say that the emotional suffering of migrant workers is both widespread and deeply rooted in structural inequalities.
Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, professor at the Department of Clinical Psychology at Dhaka University and director of the Nasirullah Psychotherapy Unit, said that returnees often describe a pattern of mental crises triggered by specific experiences.
‘Loneliness, physical and mental abuse, job loss, lack of proper salary — these are the most common stressors that the migrants report,’ he said.
He added that exploitative working conditions, long hours, low pay, poor safety standards and overcrowded living spaces contribute to both physical and psychological deterioration.
Migrant workers are also exposed to extreme social isolation. Language barriers, lack of community, and limited access to support networks leave migrants unable to seek help even when they desperately need it.
The experts said that mental health must be integrated into every stage of the migration cycle — at the pre-departure stage, in destination countries, and after return to the country.
They stressed the need for stronger bilateral agreements, mandatory psycho-social services, better monitoring by embassies, and reintegration support for returnees.
According to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training, 1.4 crore Bangladeshis migrated to 160 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Singapore in the past 21 years.
