37% of Malaysia's foreign workforce are Bangladeshis

Bangladeshis make up 37% of Malaysia's foreign workforce, with more than 800,000 nationals holding valid employment permits as of the end of June.

According to a parliamentary written reply from the Home Ministry dated 25 August, some 49,353 Bangladeshi workers entered Malaysia in 2022 after the reopening of the country's borders following the Covid-19 pandemic, reports The Star.

In 2023, when the Foreign Worker Recruitment Relaxation Plan was introduced as a temporary measure to speed up and simplify the hiring of foreign workers, a further 397,548 Bangladeshi workers arrived under the scheme.

The ministry also noted that 20,331 Bangladeshis holding temporary work permits (PLKS) were sent back by their employer in 2022, while in 2023 the number stood at 23,065.

As of June 2025, the Immigration Department had recorded 803,332 active Bangladeshi PLKS holders — representing 37% of Malaysia's entire foreign workforce — making Bangladesh the single largest source of low-skilled migrant labour in the country.

On the issue of undocumented workers, the ministry reported that 790 Bangladeshi nationals had been detained for overstaying their permits.

The figures were provided in response to a query from Hassan Karim (PH–Pasir Gudang), who had asked about the total number of Bangladeshi workers recruited in 2022 and 2023, with a breakdown of valid permit holders, undocumented migrants, and those repatriated.