Expat Bangladeshis spend more calling home than others: survey

Monday, June 29, 2009

Dhaka, 28 June (bdnews24.com)—Expatriate Bangladeshis called home more frequently than their Pakistani, Indian, Sri Lankan and Filipino counterparts, spending $48 a month to stay in touch, a survey says.

The survey ’”Teleuse at the bottom of the pyramid”, conducted by LIRNEasia, a regional ICT policy research institute, found 87 percent of Bangladeshi migrants called home at least once a week, while 34 percent called home daily.

Dr Rohan Samarejiva, chairman and CEO of the LIRNEasia, disclosed the result of the survey on Sunday in Dhaka.

Dr Samarejiva said the survey was conducted over 1,500 overseas and domestic migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Thailand.

The survey found that on average a Bangladeshi overseas migrant spends $48 per month, as against $15 by an Indian overseas migrant.

Overseas migrants mostly work in the Middle East and east or Southeast Asia.

On average, they earned approximately $485 and sent $203 home per month. The most popular way of communicating home was by telephone, though unlike the other nationalities, a significant 28 percent also made calls through the internet.

Source: bdnews24.com (link opens in a new window)