This species is locally common in Algeria, scarce in Morocco, and scarce in Pakistan. It has colonised southern Israel, where it breeds on houses, in the 1970s, and large numbers may occur outside the breeding season in Saudi Arabia and Oman. Population estimates include 10,000 to 100,000 pairs breeding in Egypt, 10,000 pairs in the United Arab Emirates, and an Arabian winter population of up to 150,000 birds in flocks that sometimes contain 300-500 birds. A large breeding range expansion in the Arabian Peninsula has been aided by the use of high-rise buildings as nesting sites, and possibly a greater supply of insects from agricultural land. Breeding is now regular in Abu Dhabi, and Qatar's tall buildings may be the next site for colonisation. The pale crag martin first bred in Iraq in 2009.