BRAIN DRAIN

Brain drain is a big issue regarding the migration of individuals. There is a big worry that young educated and skilled people will leave a country, force or not forced, to persue a better life, career and gain more wealth in the process. Brain drain is seen as the enemy the countries hit by political instability, have less prestigious post-secondary institutions or those who cannot provide good jobs for its youth. This is true. There are many countries in the developing world that look to travel to developed countries to gain more education or employment opportunities. Countries such as India and those in Africa have experienced both a positive and negative side of brain drain. Scott Firsing investigates the potential positive effects of temporary brain drain in the African continent. First off, he explains that the majority of African migrants stay within the continent. He writes “According to a January 2014 World Bank report, African migrants have doubled between 1980 and 2010 reaching 30.6 million. This represents around 3% of the continent’s total population. Approximately half of these African migrants stay in Africa with Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa and Burkina Faso the most popular destinations.” He notes that even though these statistics are good, the number of African migrants staying within the African continent is slowly decreasing.  

The obvious negative side effects of brain drain are a reduction in economics productivity, les-skilled population and more.  The recent Ebola crisis was an example of a lack of doctors in the affected region. The World Health Organization gathered information about the shortage of doctors in the region stating that “In 1973, there were 7.76 doctors per 100,000 people in Liberia. This dropped to 1.37 doctors in 2008. In East Africa, Uganda has less than 5,000 doctors and 30,000 nurses for a population topping 35 million people”. Where did all the doctors go?

Regardless of the potentially detrimental effects of brain drain, it is more complex than taking skilled workers from one country to another. Sometimes it can be temporary. There have been many initiatives for persuading migrants from coming back to their home country. For example, the governments in Africa are coordinating with various NGOs to provide rewards for migrants who return home. These initiatives include the New Partnership of Africa’s Development and the Homecoming Revolution. The Homecoming revolution is a program run in South Africa that forces the government to create nine new jobs in formal and informal sectors when a skilled person returns home. Other ways in which brain drain positively affects a country in when the skilled migrants and refugees send home some revenue to the home country; these are called remittances. Remittances are a major part of a country’s economic flow and allow them to do more within their country from the income created abroad. This idea comes full circle: as the skilled labourers leave the country, they create income abroad and send it back to the home country where there is an increase in development and more reason for the skilled migrants to return home.

As attractive as this temporary brain drain is, the possibility of migrants or refugees returning to their country of origin is very dependent on the conditions of that country. No one willingly decides to leave their country just for the sake of leaving. The questions that weigh their minds are between comparing the past and the present living standards. This isn’t something that can be easily controlled by any government.