Seven in 10 Insured Expats Earn Under BD200

Seven in ten insured foreign workers in Bahrain earned less than BD200 a month at the end of March, while only one in four insured Bahrainis took home BD1,000 or above, new figures show.

The pay gap runs through the Social Insurance Organisation’s first-quarter data for 2026, which covered 158,322 Bahraini workers and 478,707 non-Bahrainis.

Bahrainis earned BD931 a month on average, though the median wage was far lower at BD618. Among foreign workers, the average was BD269.

The private sector employed 105,780 Bahrainis, roughly two thirds of all insured Bahraini workers. Government employed 52,542.

Yet public-sector pay remained higher. The average monthly salary was BD970 in government and BD912 in private firms.

Some 42,105 Bahrainis, or 26.6pc, earned BD1,000 or above. Another 37,168, or 23.5pc, were paid between BD400 and BD599, while 34,794, or 22pc, earned between BD200 and BD399.

Only 2,221 insured Bahrainis received less than BD200 a month.

Men made up 90,830 of the Bahraini total, compared with 67,492 women.

The largest age group was 30 to 39, with 63,991 workers, or 40.4pc. Those aged 20 to 29 made up 27pc, while 22.8pc were aged between 40 and 49.

The average Bahraini worker was 36 years old, had spent 12 years in work and had begun service at 23.

All 478,707 insured foreign workers were in the private sector. They included 427,414 men and 51,293 women.

Of these, 339,472, or 70.9pc, earned less than BD200 a month. A further 13.7pc received between BD200 and BD399, while only 4.6pc were paid BD1,000 or above.

Their average age was 38 and their average length of service was nine years.

The figures also show a wide pension gap between former public and private-sector workers.

Bahrain had 86,861 pensioners at the end of March, made up of 55,044 men and 31,817 women. The average monthly pension, including the social allowance, was BD857, while the median stood at BD638.

The 36,462 government pensioners received BD1,085 a month on average. The 50,399 private-sector pensioners received BD692.

Pensioners were 58 years old on average. They had retired at 48 and had spent an average of 10 years drawing a pension.