Brain drain situation has aggravated this year, as more than 750,000 educated youth chose to seek employment overseas mainly because of shrinking job opportunities in the country.
The brain drain situation in Pakistan has worsened this year, with over 750,000 educated youth choosing to seek employment abroad, primarily due to an uncertain economic and political situation and dwindling job opportunities in the country.
According to available documents, 765,000 people left Pakistan for other countries in 2022, nearly tripling the 225,000 departures in 2021 and 288,000 emigrants in 2020. This year’s data also included 92,000 highly educated individuals, including doctors, engineers, information technology specialists, and accountants.
The vast majority of emigrants, according to the Bureau of Emigration, went to Middle Eastern countries, primarily Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Romania appeared to be the most popular European destination among Pakistanis.
“The effects of Pakistan’s deteriorating economic situation and political uncertainty have begun to affect the workforce,” a bureau official said on condition of anonymity because he was not officially authorised to speak with the media.
“Hundreds of thousands of young men, including highly educated people, who are concerned about inflation, unemployment, and an uncertain economic and political situation,” the official added.
According to official documents from the Bureau of Emigrants, 765,000 young people left the country this year. The documents also showed that the number of emigrants had increased after falling for two years in a row, with 625,000 emigrants in 2019.
According to the documents, more than 92,000 graduates, 350,000 trained workers, and the same number of untrained labourers left the country in 2022. According to the documents, 736,000 people travelled to the Gulf states.
There were 5,534 engineers, 18,000 associate electrical engineers, 2,500 doctors, 2,000 computer experts, 6,500 accountants, 2,600 agricultural experts, over 900 teachers, 12,000 computer operators, 1,600 nurses, and 21,517 technicians among the emigrating educated youth. There were 213,000 drivers among the unskilled workers.
According to the data, over 730,000 youth went to the Gulf States, nearly 40,000 went to European and other Asian countries. The country-wise break down of the data showed 470,000 Pakistanis headed to Saudi Arabia for employment, 119,000 to UAE, 77,000 to Oman, 51,634 to Qatar and 2,000 to Kuwait.
Also, according to the official documents, 2,000 Pakistanis went to Iraq, 5,000 to Malaysia, 602 to China, 815 to Japan, and 136 to Turkey. The documents also revealed that 478 Pakistan went to Sudan in Africa in search of employment.
The most people emigrated to a European country were 3,160 young people who went to Romania. Following that, 2,500 went to the United Kingdom, 677 to Spain, 566 to Germany, 497 to Greece, and 292 to Italy. In addition, the Bureau of Emigrants registered 700 people heading to the United States.
Punjab accounted for more than half of those fleeing the country. According to the documents, 424,000 emigrants from Punjab this year, 206,000 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, plus 38,000 from newly-merged tribal districts, 54,000 from Sindh, 27,000 from Azad Kashmir, 7,000 from Balochistan, and 6,000 from Islamabad.
Discrimination in employment (discrimination in promotion and appointment) is the leading cause of brain drain in Pakistan. Skilled and talented individuals are unable to obtain employment or advance to management positions.