Middle-class and wealthy South Africans seek greener pastures abroad
South Africa doesn't track the number of emigrants leaving the country. However, other statistics alarm that the country is facing a brain drain. Statistics Canada, for example, shows that the number of South Africans immigrating to Canada has increased by 37.5% compared to pre-pandemic levels. At the current rate, 5,000 South Africans are moving to Canada every year.
Immigration data from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States also shows an uptick in South African emigrants. For instance, nearly 6,000 South Africans were naturalized in the UK last year. In only the first half of 2022, over 11,000 residency applications from South Africans were approved for processing in New Zealand. A study by InfoQuest revealed that many of those leaving belong to the middle class, i.e., had been earning between 20,000-40,000 (1000-2000 USD) per month.
What is driving this brain drain? Economic stagnation, political instability and infrastructure problems are the leading causes. South Africa struggles with an inadequate energy supply, which forces the government to resort to load-shedding (scheduled electricity blackouts) regularly. The country also experienced major civil unrest in 2021 following the imprisonment of former President Zuma. Property was looted and set on fire, and over 300 people died. While poor South Africans often don't have the means to move abroad, middle-class and degree-educated South Africans are taking advantage of the strong demand for high-skilled workers in more stable countries. They also have the advantage of being native English speakers, which makes it easier to immigrate to major English-speaking powers.
Medical professionals are especially aware of their high value on the international labor market right now. Indeed, in the newspaper Business Tech, the CEO of the insurance company Profmed has warned that healthcare is set to become more expensive because too many South African doctors and nurses are emigrating. He blames wealthier countries for “poaching” South African doctors, especially specialists like cardiologists, in the aftermath of the pandemic. He also believes that South Africa itself should offer these medical professionals “a stronger value proposition” to prevent them from being tempted by greener grasses. This includes higher market-adjusted remuneration, more secure contracts, and easier recruitment for fresh graduates.
South Africa's Department of Home Affairs has even added medical professionals to their Critical Skills List. This will allow employers to recruit foreigners as doctors, dentists, nurses and pharmacists. Even as the country is suffering from a brain drain, it is also now trying to profit from brain gain, perhaps by attracting high-skilled professionals from neighboring Sub-Saharan African countries.
Besides middle-class South Africans, wealthy South Africans are also leaving. They are scared of the country's revenue services' new measures to crack down on wealth, so they are emigrating or at least offshoring their assets. This is because the tax authorities are now requiring anyone with assets over 50 million rands (about 2.7 million USD) to declare these, even if the assets and liabilities are abroad, at market value in their 2023 tax return.
Lack of safety and a stagnating economy push Nigerians to emigrate
Nigeria is another African country experiencing a brain drain. And like in South Africa, a stagnating economy, poor security and poor infrastructure are the leading causes. A 2019 Pew study revealed that, even before the pandemic, Nigeria was the country with the highest percentage of its population wanting to leave the country – 45% of respondents had said they wanted to move abroad within 5 years.
Security is the major issue. In a BBC article, an 18-year-old Nigerian man said that a traumatic mugging and near-kidnapping experience spurred him to move to Canada, where he will study and then work. Kidnapping for ransom is a major threat to all civilians. After Covid, it got worse. The Nigeria Security Tracker reports that an astounding 2,944 people got kidnapped in only the first 6 months of 2021. In comparison, 1,386 were abducted in the whole of 2019. The country, especially the north, is also threatened by the infamous terrorist group Boko Haram.
While the Nigerian government is investing billions in improving the country's infrastructure, it still remains another problem motivating working-age Nigerians to immigrate. In the Financial Times, the journalist Aanu Adeoye, who returned to his home country from London, explains how difficult it was to find appropriate housing in Lagos. He also struggles with the capital's poor public transport and the flooding of streets whenever it rains. He says that family and friends are confused about why he returned. Most of his university-educated peers – especially those with sought-after skills in medicine, nursing, software engineering and management – try to emigrate for good.
Indeed, the brain drain is making some fields in Nigeria face an understaffing crisis. Like in South Africa, healthcare is the most affected sector: there are now only 4 doctors for every 10,000 patients in the country, reports the WHO. The Federal Medical Center has deplored the rate at which Nigerian doctors are emigrating. This trend predates the pandemic, but it has accelerated since 2020. According to the Nigerian Medical Association, the number of Nigerian doctors practicing in the UK increased exponentially between July 2020 and May 2021. These doctors left behind poorly-funded hospitals, poor working conditions and salaries about 10 times less than what they now earn in the UK.
Banking is also another affected sector. The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria reports that stagnating salaries and the lack of job security are pushing many early- and mid-career bank employees to emigrate. Popular destinations for Nigerian professionals are Canada, which has many skilled immigration pathways, the United Kingdom, its former colonizer, the United States, Ireland (for doctors), Germany (for IT professionals) and Saudi Arabia (for doctors).
Ireland's youth looks for more affordable cost-of-living abroad
Brain drain doesn't affect only developing countries. Competition for high-skilled workers and the flow of labor also happens between developed countries. In Ireland, it is one specific demographic, young people in their 20s and 30s, who are leaving the country at a higher rate.
Most of these young Irish people are going to other English-speaking countries, especially to the United Kingdom (their neighbor) and Australia, or to other countries within the European Union, where they have nearly all the same rights as local citizens. The Central Statistics Office of Ireland reports that out of the 22,800 emigrates who left the country in 2021, over 18,000 went to the UK.
The main, if not only, driver of this brain drain is the increasingly unaffordable cost of living in Ireland. Indeed, in 2022, Ireland is the most expensive country in the EU to live in after Denmark. Consumer prices are 40% above the EU average, and apartments can cost €1,000 more to rent than in other EU countries. Case in point, a one-bedroom apartment that costs €2,000 in Dublin will cost around €800-1200 in Barcelona and €1000-1500 in Berlin, according to multiple housing websites.
A recent study by the National Youth Council of Ireland revealed that 7 out of 10 young Irish people between 18 and 24 would like to move abroad. Stress about the cost of housing, food and public transport has worsened the mental health of many. Young people who originally planned to study or work abroad only for a limited amount of time now feel less keen on returning home. On RTE News, Conor Brummell, a young Irish expat in Brussels, expresses his anxiety about returning to Ireland because it would mean a doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling of his current rent of €600.
Innovative ideas are also leaving along with these young people. The young Irish entrepreneurs Cian McNally, Evan Mcgloughlin, Oisín Morrin and Aaron Connolly decided to relocate to Barcelona to launch their startup, a language-learning app called Weeve. They tell The Independent that they wouldn't have been able to afford office space for their startup back in Dublin.
Ireland, however, is in a more peculiar situation than South Africa or Nigeria, for it is not only experiencing a brain drain of its local citizens, but it is also benefiting from a brain gain of expats of other nationalities. It can hence fill the labor gap left behind by the emigrants more easily than the two African countries mentioned above. Ironically enough, Nigerian doctors constitute a significant brain gain for Ireland. The Irish state is creating many legal immigration pathways and incentives to encourage high-skilled expats, especially medical personnel, to move there.
Other countries affected by significant brain drain
Around the world, many other developing countries are affected by brain drain, as their middle-classes leverage their skills to get higher-paying jobs in developed countries. Jamaica, Mauritius, Ethiopia, China, Mexico, Guyana and Bangladesh are notable examples.
The types of professionals leaving these countries can vary. For example, in Mauritius, as documented in local newspapers like l'Express and Le Défi, the post-pandemic brain drain concerns mostly finance and hospitality professionals. China's brain drain problem is connected to how many middle-class Chinese students opt to study in Western countries and then don't return after graduating. They are often STEM (science and technology) professionals.
As an expat, you can be at an advantage when applying for a work visa in a country affected by a brain drain. If you have the skills that their emigrating citizens are leaving with, you will likely be valued as a replacement.
