Nearly 250,000 Pakistanis were deported from various countries during the years 2012-2015, a report quoting statistics issued by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) revealed on Saturday.

The "Labour Migration from Pakistan: 2015 Status Report" showed that a total of 242,817 Pakistanis were deported over the time period, according to the FIA's deportation statistics.

The year with the highest number of Pakistani deportees is 2014 with 73,064 deportees, whereas 2010 has the smallest number at 46,032.

Irregular Pakistani migrants deported between 2012-15

Saudi Arabia: 131,643

United Arab Emirates: 32,458

Iran: 28,684

Oman: 17,248

Greece: 14,145

United Kingdom: 9,778

Malaysia: 8,861

The report said that around 513,231 individuals were deported from different countries from 2007 to June 2015, suggesting an upward trend over time which may be indicative of an increase in the human trafficking and smuggling of migrants.

A study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has found that the majority of irregular migration involved migrants originating from Punjab, especially from Gujrat, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Sialkot.

Most of the individuals deported from Saudi Arabia and the UAE were job seekers and businessmen, whereas many of those deported from Iran were in transit to Greece.

Deportations from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is attributed mainly to security-related issues, the report claimed.

From 2005-06 to 2014-15, around 932,051 migrant workers were stranded in destination countries due to lack of proper documentation and thus deported.

The largest number of stranded Pakistanis at 882,887 was deported from Jeddah, followed by Doha and Qatar at 4,200.

Around 14,628 migrant workers were detained in jails in destination countries during the said period, while consulate officials or community welfare attaches made 4,200 monitoring visits to the employment sites of the migration workers.

Most of the visits were made in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (1,863) followed by Kuwait (652), Manama (496) and Seoul (400), the report said.