This year, Pakistan’s brain drain problem worsened as more than 750,000 educated individuals decided to go abroad due to the country’s unstable political and economic environment and declining employment chances.
The statistics show that 765,000 persons emigrated from Pakistan in 2022, more than double the 225,000 departures in 2021 and 288,000 emigrants in 2020. 92,000 highly educated individuals, including physicians, engineers, information technology specialists, and accountants, were also included in this year’s report.
According to the Bureau of Emigration, the vast majority of immigrants travelled to Middle Eastern nations, primarily Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Romania seems to be the Pakistanis’ top pick among the European locations.
The effects of the deteriorating economic situation as well the political uncertainty have begun to affect the workforce of Pakistan, a bureau official told The Express Tribune 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 worried about inflation, unemployment and uncertain economic and political situation, are going abroad every year in search of employment, the official added.
765,000 young individuals travelled overseas this year, per the Bureau of Emigrants’ official records. The data also demonstrated that emigration increased after falling for two straight years, with 625,000 people leaving the country in 2019.
According to the documents, more over 92,000 graduates, 350,000 skilled employees, and the same number of untrained labourers fled the nation in 2022. The documents further revealed that 736,000 individuals visited the Gulf states.
At least 5,534 engineers, 18,000 associate electrical engineers, 2,500 physicians, 2,000 computer experts, 6,500 accountants, 2,600 agricultural experts, over 900 instructors, 12,000 computer operators, 1,600 nurses, and 21,517 technicians were among the educated young who were departing. There were 213,000 drivers among the unskilled employees.
Nearly 40,000 kids travelled to Europe and other Asian nations, while over 730,000 young visited the Gulf States. According to a breakdown of the statistics by nation, 470,000 Pakistanis left for Saudi Arabia to find work, while 119,000 went to the United Arab Emirates, 77,000 went to Oman, 51,634 went to Qatar, and 2,000 went to Kuwait.
5,000 Pakistanis travelled to Malaysia, 602 to China, 815 to Japan, 136 to Turkey, 2,000 to Iraq, and 5,000 to Malaysia. The papers also showed that 478 Pakistanis travelled to Sudan in quest of work.
3,160 young people from around Europe emigrated to Romania, which had the highest emigration rate. 2,500 more were sent to the United Kingdom, 677 to Spain, 566 to Germany, 497 to Greece, and 292 to Italy. Additionally, the Bureau of Emigrants registered 700 immigrants to the US.
Punjab accounted for more than half of those who departed the nation. According to the papers, this year’s immigrants came from Punjab in 424,000 cases, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in 206,000 cases, with 38,000 newly combined tribal areas, Sindh in 54,000 cases, Azad Kashmir in 27,000 cases, and Balochistan in 7,000 cases.