The number of Nepali workers leaving for foreign employment declined by 3.5 percent in the first nine months of this year. The latest data from the Department of Labour and Employment Promotion shows the number of Nepalis seeking foreign jobs decreased to 75,000 from 77,000 in the corresponding period last year. Malaysia and the Persian Gulf saw the largest drop of 25 percent. "It is an accumulated effect of war in the Gulf, the month-long government ban on travelling to Kuwait, difficulties in obtaining passport, a global economic recession and the recent ceasefire that has made young men feel safer at home," says sociologist Ganesh Gurung, who is studying Nepal's labour outflow trend.