Bahrain Statutory social-insurance contributions
Bahrain has 6 contribution branches on the calendar held here, in force from 1 Jan 2026. Last checked against the official source on 11 Aug 2026.
Mandatory payroll contributions for a private-sector employee in Bahrain (BH): the contributory social-insurance branches, which apply in full ONLY to Bahraini nationals, the employment-injury and unemployment cover that reaches expatriates, and the SIO-administered end-of-service scheme that replaced the employer-paid gratuity for non-Bahrainis.
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| Current value | 6 entries — see the API for the full schedule |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-01-01 |
| Official source | Social Insurance Organization (SIO), Kingdom of Bahrain — Social Insurance Law promulgated by Legislative Decree No. (24) of 1976, English text published by SIO, articles 11, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33 (old age, disability and death: employer 11%, insured 7%), 47 (employment injuries: employer 3%), 135, 148 and 149 read directly; Decision No. (109) of 2023 promulgating the Regulation of End of Service Remuneration for non-Bahrainis working in the private sector, full text published by SIO and read in full, articles 1 to 15 including article 5 (contribution rates 4.2% / 8.4%) and Article Four of the promulgating Decision (in force 1 March 2024); Law No. (78) of 2006 with respect to Insurance Against Unemployment and its amendments, as published by SIO, for the 1% insured / 1% employer / 1% Government financing; Law No. (68) of 2006 approving the Unified Regulation for extending insurance protection to GCC nationals working outside their own State; Private Sector Labour Law promulgated by Law No. (36) of 2012. |
| Last verified | 2026-08-11 |
| Verification | secondary — Corroborated, but the primary instrument was NOT read (usually the publishing host blocks automated access). The Social Insurance Law (Legislative Decree No. 24 of 1976) and the End of Service Remuneration Regulation (Decision No. 109 of 2023) were BOTH read directly from the Social Insurance Organization's own website, and every quotation in the instrument fields comes from those texts — so the 11% statutory employer base, the 7% employee share, the 3% employment-injury rate, and the whole of the 4.2%/8.4% end-of-service scheme including its scope, exclusions, backdating rule and transfer rules are primary. The record is marked secondary for two reasons. FIRST, the CURRENT employer rate: the SIO text of article 33 carries the 11% base figure, and the annual one-point increase to a 20% employer total by January 2028 is reported by payroll and consultancy alerts rather than being visible in the SIO text read — the 2026 employer total of 18% (and 17% for 2025) comes from those secondary reports, and the attribution of 14 of those 18 points to the old-age/disability/death branch is a reconciliation of the reported total against the statutory 3% injury and 1% unemployment components, not a figure quoted anywhere. SECOND, the maximum contributory wage: no ceiling was found in the law text read, so none is served, and the ceiling applied in practice remains unverified. The employee side (7% + 1% = 8%) and the expatriate position (employee 1%; employer 3% plus end-of-service) rest on provisions read directly and are materially more reliable than the employer national rate. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
WHAT A PAYROLL ENGINE GETS WRONG IN BAHRAIN. 1. THE HEADLINE RATE IS FOR BAHRAINIS ONLY, AND MOST OF THE PRIVATE-SECTOR WORKFORCE IS NOT BAHRAINI. This is the single most important fact about Bahraini payroll and it applies across the Gulf. The old-age, disability and death branch — 14% employer and 7% employee for 2026 — is confined to Bahraini nationals. An expatriate private-sector employee pays 1% (unemployment) and nothing else, and their employer pays 3% (employment injury) plus the end-of-service contribution. Applying "Bahrain: 18% employer, 8% employee" to an expatriate is wrong by a very large margin in both directions, and for many employers in Bahrain the expatriate case is the DEFAULT case, not the exception. 2. TWO COMPLETE ANSWERS. BAHRAINI NATIONAL, 2026: employer 18% (14 old age/disability/death + 3 employment injury + 1 unemployment); employee 8% (7 + 1). Government adds 1% to the unemployment branch. NON-BAHRAINI, NON-GCC: employer 3% employment injury PLUS 4.2% end-of-service for the first three years of service or 8.4% thereafter — so 7.2% or 11.4% in total; employee 1% unemployment and nothing else. GCC NATIONAL WORKING IN BAHRAIN: neither of the above — covered by the unified GCC regulation under Law No. 68 of 2006, contributing to the home State's scheme at the home State's rates, and expressly excluded from the Bahraini end-of-service regulation. 3. THE EMPLOYER RATE FOR BAHRAINIS RISES EVERY JANUARY UNTIL 2028. One percentage point a year: 17% for 2025, 18% for 2026, on a legislated path to 20% in January 2028. The employee's 8% is not scheduled to move. Bahrain is therefore one of the few countries in this dataset where next year's employer rate is already known — and one where a rate carried over from the previous year is guaranteed to be wrong. 4. THE EXPATRIATE GRATUITY IS NO LONGER AN ACCRUAL — IT IS A MONTHLY CASH CONTRIBUTION TO SIO. Since 1 March 2024, under Decision No. 109 of 2023, and at 4.2% of wage for the first three years of service and 8.4% thereafter. Models that still carry an end-of-service PROVISION for Bahraini expatriate staff, rather than a monthly payment, misstate both cash flow and the balance sheet. Note that service BEFORE 1 March 2024 stays under the Labour Law gratuity rules, so most employers have both a legacy accrual and a live contribution running side by side. 5. THE THREE-YEAR STEP IS BACKDATED. Article 13 of the Regulation put every expatriate who already had more than three years' service on 1 March 2024 straight onto 8.4%. There is no fresh clock for existing staff. 6. THE EMPLOYER CANNOT CLAW BACK A MISSED EMPLOYEE DEDUCTION. Article 28 of the Social Insurance Law: where the employer fails to deduct the worker's share when the wage is paid, it may not withhold that share from wages later "in any form whatsoever". The employer simply bears it. Combined with article 29's 20% additional amount for under-declaration and article 31's 5% per month interest, under-declaring wages is expensive in a way that is easy to miss. 7. EMPLOYMENT INJURY IS FLAT AND UNRATED. 3% for every employer in every industry. Do not look for an accident class. 8. NOTHING HERE IS INCOME TAX. Bahrain levies no personal income tax, so there is no question of deductibility and no PAYE interaction: the employee's deduction is the whole of what leaves the payslip. SUB-NATIONAL VARIATION: none. Rates are national across all four governorates. Differentiation is entirely by NATIONALITY (Bahraini, GCC national, other) and by LENGTH OF SERVICE (the 4.2%/8.4% step), never by geography and never by industry. WHAT WE DO NOT PUT A NUMBER ON: I put no number on the following, deliberately. THE MAXIMUM CONTRIBUTORY WAGE. A ceiling on the wage subject to social insurance is applied in practice in Bahrain, but no such ceiling appears in the text of Legislative Decree No. 24 of 1976 as read for this record — it is fixed administratively. No ceiling figure is served, and none of the branch entries carries a ceiling field. Confirm the current maximum contributory wage with SIO before computing contributions for a high earner; do not assume the percentages run uncapped. THE PUBLIC-SECTOR SCHEME — civil and military pensions run under their own laws and rates and are out of scope for a private-sector employee. THE GCC UNIFIED-REGULATION RATES — a GCC national working in Bahrain contributes at their HOME State's rates under Law No. 68 of 2006. Those rates belong to the home State's record, not to this one, and are not restated here. OPTIONAL AND VOLUNTARY INSURANCE — SIO operates optional insurance for categories outside compulsory coverage; not modelled. ALREADY LEGISLATED, NOT YET IN FORCE: THE EMPLOYER INCREASE FOR 2027 AND 2028. The employer's total social-insurance contribution for Bahraini nationals is on a legislated path of one percentage point each January — 19% from January 2027 and 20% from January 2028 — after which the schedule as announced is complete. Diary a re-verification for the first week of each January, and note that the increase falls on the employer side only. Employee and employer shares are stated separately: the employee figure is what leaves the payslip, the employer figure is cost of employment and is not a deduction.
Get it programmatically
curl https://mearef.dev/v1/bh/social-contributions
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://mearef.dev/v1/bh/social-contributions/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://mearef.dev/provenance/bh/social-contributionsOther Bahrain series: CBB Key Policy Rate · Value-added tax (VAT) · VAT registration threshold · Statutory national minimum wage · Official public holidays · Consumer Price Index (latest month) · General corporate income tax rate · Withholding tax rates · Legal interest on commercial debts · Personal income tax
The same figure elsewhere: Iraq · Israel · Jordan · Kuwait · Oman · all 9