Nearly 5 million Pakistani emigrants make up the world's 7th largest disapora, according to the World Bank Factbook 2011. Adding the foreign-born children of these Pakistani emigres to the tally pushes the total figure up to about 7 million. The top five nations that the Pakistani diaspora calls home include the United Kingdom (1.2 million), The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1.2 million), the United Arab Emirates (1.1 million), the United States (700,000) and Canada (300,000), according to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.
The nations ranking ahead of Pakistan are Mexico at #1, India at #2, Russia at #3, China at #4, Ukraine at #5 and Bangladesh at #6. Both the UK and Pakistan are tied at #7 with 4.7 million emigres, according to the World Bank.
World's Top 10 Diasporas:
Here are the top 10 national diasporas:
1. Mexico 11.9 million
2. India 11.4 million
3. Russia 11.1 million
4. China 8.3 million
5. Ukraine 6.6 million
6. Bangladesh 5.4 million
7. Pakistan 4.7 million
7. United Kingdom 4.7 million
8. Philippines 4.3 million
8. Turkey 4.3 million
9. Egypt 3.7 million
9. Kazakhstan 3.7 million
10. Germany 3.5 million
10. Italy 3.5 million
Diaspora Remittances:
The World Bank's Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011 ranks Pakistan at #11 in 2010 for remittances of $9.4 billion sent home by its diaspora. The State Bank of Pakistan reported that overseas Pakistanis sent home $5.291 billion during six months from July to Dec, 2010, an increase of $761 million or 17 per cent year over year, according to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.
India tops this list with remittances of $55 billion sent home in 2010, followed by China ($51 billion), Mexico ($22.6 billion), Philippines ($21.3 billion), France ($15.9 billion), Germany ($11.6 billion), Bangladesh ($11.1 billion), Belgium ($10.4 billion), Spain ($10.2 billion), Nigeria ($10 billion) and Pakistan ($9.4 billion).
Per Capita Remittances:
In terms of per capita remittances based the World Bank data, China leads the world with an average of $6,100 sent home by each member of the Chinese diaspora, followed by the Philippines ($4,953), India ($4,824), Bangladesh ($2055), Pakistan ($2000), Mexico ($1904), UK ($1,574), Ukraine ($803) and Russia ($504). These per capita figures are an indication of the wealth of each diaspora and the extent of the brain drain experienced by these nations.
Top Immigration Countries:
With 42.8 million immigrants, the United States is home to the world's largest immigrant population. India and Pakistan also have the distinction of being on the list with 5.4 million immigrants in India at #10 and Pakistan with 4.2 million immigrants at #13. Other nations on this list include Russia at #2 (12.3 million immigrants), Germany at #3 (10.8 million), Saudi Arabia at #4 (7.3 million), Canada at #5 (7.2 million), the UK at #6 (7 million), Spain at #7 (6.9 million), France at #8 (6.7 million) and Australia at #9 (5.5 million).
Examples of Diaspora's Role:
Diasporas of various nations are mutually beneficial to both the sending and the receiving countries. They send home the money to help their families and friends financially. And they often acquire advanced education and technical, professional and managerial skills and contribute to solving problems in their host nations in the West. And given the right political and policy context, the members of the diaspora can also help their countries of origin by using their deep knowledge of their home countries and by offering advanced skills, experience and knowledge acquired in more developed nations.
In terms of development help with the skills and capital of the diaspora for their home nations, there are three examples of fairly old and mature diasporas: China, India and Armenia. While China and India have benefited greatly from their diasporas, Armenia has lagged badly, according to a World Bank report titled "Work Globally, Develop Locally: Diaspora Networks as Springboards of Knowledge-Based Development".
Pakistani Diaspora's Role:
In Pakistan's case, growing remittances amounting to 5% of its gdp in 2010 from the nation's diaspora provided an important lifeline for the state of Pakistan in funding its large current account deficit and in helping the individuals and families receiving the funds to supplement their incomes.
Remittances are a source of income for households in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and other provinces in Pakistan, according to a 2010 World Bank report titled "Poverty fell in Pakistan in 2001-08 partly because of remittances". A recent Asian Development Bank study found that foreign remittances constituted 9.4 percent of household income in KP, compared to 5.1% for Punjab, 1.5% for Baluchistan, and 0.7% for Sindh.
Beyond the remittances, can Pakistan also benefit from its growing diaspora like India and China have from theirs? With millions of Pakistanis in Europe and America, many of them highly skilled entrepreneurs and business and technology professionals, Pakistani diaspora can be very helpful to their home country in its business, economic, social, political, educational and technological development. The realization of such great potential will only be possible if Pakistani government's public policy, public-private partnerships and state-to-state relations with the West create the necessary conditions for it to happen. Existing organizations of Pakistanis, such as OPEN Silicon Valley, APPNA, and PakAlumni Worldwide, can be helpful in such an endeavor.
Among the emerging diaspora networks, the effort of South African Network of Skills Abroad (SANSA), established by the University of Cape Town’s Science and Technology Policy Research Center, is worth watching. SANSA aims to promote collaboration between highly skilled expatriate scientists and technologists and their counterparts in South Africa. The target group is alumni of all major South African universities working in the West.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
PakAlumni Worldwide
Pakistani-American's Game-Changing Vision
OPEN Forum 2010
Pakistani-American in $500 Million NFL Deal
Is Pakistan Too Big to Fail?
Pakistani-American Elected Mayor
Fighting Poverty Through Microfinance in Pakistan
Silicon Valley Summit of Pakistani Entrepreneurs
Pakistan's Multi-Billion Dollar IT Industry
Media and Telecom Sectors Growing in Pakistan
Pakistan's Middle Class Growth in 1999-2009
Social Entrepreneurs Target India, Pakistan
Threre are more reasons to migrate to Canada
1 year ago
28 comments:
While there is nothing wrong with being a taxi driver, all this bigoted talk by presumably Indian commentators(sent to me but not posted) about most of the taxi drivers in America being Pakistani is just nonsense as confirmed by the NY Times data.
It shows that there are 16000 Indian taxi drivers in America versus 10,000 Pakistan taxi drivers.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/07/us/20090407-immigration-country.html#view=52100
I see that most taxi drivers, 711 workers, gas station attendants, liquor store clerks and newsstand sellers in the United States are Indian....and it's not surprising given that there are a large number of legal and illegal Indian immigrants in US.
Even Hilary Clinton once joked about it saying "He (Gandhi) ran a gas station down in St. Louis.”
Anecdotally, here's this excerpt from Time Magazine about Indians in New Jersey:
"I am very much in favor of immigration everywhere in the U.S. except Edison, N.J. The mostly white suburban town I left when I graduated from high school in 1989 — the town that was called Menlo Park when Thomas Alva Edison set up shop there and was later renamed in his honor — has become home to one of the biggest Indian communities in the U.S., as familiar to people in India as how to instruct stupid Americans to reboot their Internet routers....
For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1999416,00.html
Hello Riaz,
For a person who is so careful to cultivate the image of Pakistan and Pakistans == India and Indians, I must say I am surprised that you posted NY Times data as if you are right. If any thing, many of your often repeated points have been blown away. Let me take it point by point.
1. There is dignity of labor. Nothing wrong being a taxi driver, just like there is nothing wrong being a software coolie. Will you apologize to all indians and me included (I am also a coolie as can be seen in my nick).
2. I once maintained that for every 1 pakistani in IT I see 30 indians. The data confirms it(125K vs 4K).
3. Look at top 3 indian professions and you will see where indian education stands or where indians stand. What do you think is the reason Pak is so far behind.
4. For every Hillary Clinton jokes, there is Obama's repeated reference to american children should be able to compete with Chinese and Indian children. Strange you don't mention that.
Ego is a bad thing and we Pakistan have a massive chip over our shoulder when it comes to India.
You also don't understand why indians love to send you such bigoted mails. It is because you don't seem to live without mentioning India. Stop comparing Pak with India. Stop commenting on India and you will see Indians disappear. Take a look at your Karachi violence post. How many indians posted in it.
Indians are the richest national origin group in the USA overall and Hindus are the second richest religious affiliation in the US after Jews.
There is a reason Indians are referred to as 'brown jews' by many people around the world(google about this)
DC: "I once maintained that for every 1 pakistani in IT I see 30 indians. The data confirms it(125K vs 4K)."
I have never doubted that Indians have cornered the code coolie business....making up 16% of NRIs in India. So why focus on just one particular profession?
Why don't you also highlight the fact that 7.2% of Pakistani-Americans are doctors versus only 5.3% of Indians?
Also not the fact that more Indians are escaping "Shining India" as obvious from two facts:
1. India's illegal immigration into US has risen 125% since 2000.
2. Indian population in US has risen 260% from 1990-2007 vs 220% for Pakistanis in America in the same period.
http://escapefromindia.wordpress.com/
DC: "Take a look at your Karachi violence post. How many indians posted in it."
I get the same hateful comments from many Indian readers regardless of the subject of my post. The fact that you don't see all of them is because most such comments are quickly put away in my circular file.
Anon: "Indians are the richest national origin group in the USA overall and Hindus are the second richest religious affiliation in the US after Jews."
It also confirms the severity of brain drain from India to US...particularly given the fact that Indians have among the lowest graduation rates (3.1%)at tertiary level in India...even lower than Pakistan's (3.9%).
http://www.riazhaq.com/2011/08/pakistan-ahead-of-india-in-graduation.html
Here's US Vice President Joe Biden on Indian-Americans working at 711s and Dunkin Donuts in Delaware, according to CBS:
On a recent edition of the C-SPAN series "Road to the White House," the Delaware Democrat is shown shaking hands with a man and boasting about his support among Indian-Americans.
"I've had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking," Biden said.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/07/politics/main1785303.shtml
Riaz, in a post about Pakistani diaspora, you, courtesy your petty sniggering at India and Indians have once again reduced what could have been an interesting discussion into a slanging match between India and Pakistan. I've long been a reader of your blog, and that is because you do seem to possess a wealth of data which is useful to any informed Indian or Pakistani, even if your data are always presented so as to make Pakistan look head and shoulders above India. If you were to put aside your intrinsic hatred of us Hindu infidels and look dispassionately at facts, I'm sure that your blog will be frequented by many more intelligent readers from India, which will serve to enlighten, inform and benefit people on both sides of the border.
^^
Dunkin donuts or no dunkin donuts Indians are the richest national group in USA and are richer than the average in UK,Canada,Australia,Singapore and all other I world countries etc.
Brain drain doesn't seem to have had a significant effect in slowing industrialization or creating world class companies at home.If anything they have created large conduits for Indian businesses to enter and transfer technology and advanced management practices.Not to mention the massive remmitance flows which keeps the CAD well within manageable limits.
'It shows that there are 16000 Indian taxi drivers in America versus 10,000 Pakistan taxi drivers.'
umm given ratio and proportion ie India is 7 times larger so if India was as bad as pakistan there should have been 70,000 taxi drivers instead on only 16,000.ie India is 4 times better in this metric.
But way of please don't let facts get in the way of your rhetoric.
Anon: "mm given ratio and proportion ie India is 7 times larger so if India was as bad as pakistan there should have been 70,000 taxi drivers instead on only 16,000.ie India is 4 times better in this metric."
The stereotype being discussed here is that Pakistanis are all taxi driver in America, and this stereotype is clearly demolished by the fact that there are 60% more Indian taxi drivers than Pakistani tax drivers in America.
The data also confirms the severity of brain drain from India to US...particularly given the fact that Indians have among the lowest graduation rates (3.1%)at tertiary level in India...even lower than Pakistan's (3.9%).
http://www.riazhaq.com/2011/08/pakistan-ahead-of-india-in-graduation.html
Mr. Haq
Your pervese attempts to colour the opinion of netizens is really disappointing. Specially, since you resort to mutilating facts beyond recognition. Allow me to add some perspective.
1. Indian Taxi drivers - 16,000 and Pak Taxi driver - 10,000. According to the NYT data that you quoted Indian drivers account for only 2.157% of the total worker in various occupations. Where pak drivers account for 9.606% of the total pak workers. Roughly that means that every 1 out 10 pakistani in US is a taxi driver.
2. But assuming that one believes in dignity of labour, let's take a more objective indicator of 'power' of respective diasporas - median income. Median income for indians (2007) stands at USD 91,195 (http://www.nritoday.net/national-affairs/475-indian-americans-the-fastest-growing-and-the-highest-income-group). Pak doesn't even come close. Median income for pak (2005) stands at a measely USD 57,852 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_American). Clearly, drving cabs doesn't help finances.
3. As for brain drain. Acc to the NYT data, total number of Indian Software developers number around 125,300. From Tamil Nadu ALONE, for engineering ALONE - there are 175,000 gradutes approx. per annum. Ever heard of the words - "India's demographic dividend"??
4. Here's another indicator. Lobbying capabilities. I recommend a read of the following work of Dr. Aminah Mohammad-Arif (http://www.ceri-sciencespo.com/archive/jan01/lobbying.pdf). He concludes that the indiad diaspora for reasons such as economic might, the Indian diaspora has been more successful.
5. As for escaping from india?! Pak's diaspora stands at 4.7 million - which is 2.76% of pak's population. Meanwhile, indian diapora includes 11.4 million, ONLY 0.95%. Looks to me that Pakistanis are more keen on escaping a failing state, than Indian's escaping "shining india".
6. And finally, your cheap shot by quoting the Time Magazine article. If you had bothered to dig a little deeper, you would have discovered that both, Time and Joel Stein have issued apologies for the racial and "bigoted" article.
Ashmit:
I suggest you and other readers read an Indian blogger's post "Why one million Indians Escape from India every year" to get a full dose reality about "Shining India":
Here are a few excerpts:
Any crackdown on illegal immigrants abroad or restricting quotas to Indians are a major concern to India’s politicians. The latest statistics from US Department of Homeland Security shows that the numbers of Indian illegal migrants jumped 125% since 2000! Ever wondered why Indians migrate to another countries but no one comes to India for a living?
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Quit India!
Sixty years ago Indians asked the British to quit India. Now they are doing it themselves. To live with dignity and enjoy relative freedom, one has to quit India! With this massive exodus, what will be left behind will be a violently charged and polarized society.
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15 per cent Hindu upper castes inherited majority of India’s civil service, economy and active politics from British colonial masters. And thus the caste system virtually leaves lower caste Hindus in to an oppressed majority in India’s power structure. Going by figures quoted by the Backward Classes Commission, Brahmins alone account for 37.17 per cent of the bureaucracy. [Who is Really Ruling India?]
The 2004 World Development Report mentions that more than 25% of India’s primary school teachers and 43% of primary health care workers are absent on any given day!
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About 40 million primary school-age children in India are not in school. More than 92 % children cannot progress beyond secondary school. According to reports, 35 per cent schools don’t have infrastructure such as blackboards and furniture. And close to 90 per cent have no functional toilets. Half of India’s schools still have leaking roofs or no water supply.
Japan has 4,000 universities for its 127 million people and the US has 3,650 universities for its 301 million, India has only 348 universities for its 1.2 billion people. In the prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities by Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong, only two Indian Universities are included. Even those two IITs in India found only a lower slot (203-304) in 2007 report. Although Indian universities churn out three million graduates a year, only 15% of them are suitable employees for blue-chip companies. Only 1 million among them are IT professionals.
http://escapefromindia.wordpress.com/
"There are currently (as of 2005) 40,838 doctors of Indian origin in the United States of America and they account for 5% of all doctors in the USA and 20% of all International Medical Graduates employed in the US workforce. It is noteworthy that India provides the largest number of International Medical Graduates to the US in absolute numbers. With 59,523 Physicians of Indian Origin working in the English speaking Western world (the US, UK, Australia and Canada combined), India is by far the single largest source of emigre physicians in the world. [1]"
Jack Welch said about India "india is a developing country with an already developed intellectual capability" [ Quoted in The World is Flat ].
When do you think someone like Jack Welch would say the same about Pakistan
2025
2050
2075
Select one of the above.
We understand that you are very envious.
Anon: "It is noteworthy that India provides the largest number of International Medical Graduates to the US in absolute numbers. "
All this while India ranks #124 (0.6 physicians per 1000 people) on a list of 204 countries in terms of access to doctors. This compares with Pakistan at #120 with 0.74 doctors per 1000, according to Nationmaster.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_phy_per_1000_peo-physicians-per-1-000-people
It also explains why Indians have higher disease burdens and shorter life expectancy (64 yrs) than Pakistanis (67 yrs) by 3 years.
"All this while India ranks #124 (0.6 physicians per 1000 people) on a list of 204 countries in terms of access to doctors. This compares with Pakistan at #120 with 0.74 doctors per 1000"
Well, pak might have more physicians, but according to Nationmaster - not enough hospital beds for the the people to seek treatment from those physicians.
India has 0.9 beds per 1000 people. While pak has 0.7 beds per 100 people. That's a difference of nearly 30%.
But the key takeaway is not status quo, but corrective action.
And indians are spending far more than what pak can afford. India's dollar spend per capita on health is USD 31.4. Meanwhile, pak spends ONLY USD 13.4. Which means, India spends 131% more than pak.
Moreover the GDP spend is also higher. India allocates 6.1 percent of GDP, which is 91% more than 3.2 percent of the GDP allocated by pak. India is ranked 89th and pak stands at 172.
PS - statistics sourced from Nationmaster.
Ashmit: "And indians are spending far more than what pak can afford. India's dollar spend per capita on health is USD 31.4. Meanwhile, pak spends ONLY USD 13.4. Which means, India spends 131% more than pak. "
And what does India get for it? Shorter life spans and higher disease burdens than in Pakistan.
Poverty, hunger, unsanitary or unsafe conditions and inadequate health care in South Asia's developing nations are exposing their citizens to high risk of a variety of diseases which may impact their intelligence. Every year, World Health Organization reports what it calls "Environmental Burden of Disease" in each country of the world in terms of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) per 1000 people and total number of deaths from diseases ranging from diarrhea and other infectious diseases to heart disease, road traffic injuries and different forms of cancer.
In the range of DALYs/1000 capita from 13 (lowest) to 289 (highest), WHO's latest data indicates that India is at 65 while Pakistan is slightly better at 58. In terms of total number of deaths per year from disease, India stands at 2.7 million deaths while Pakistani death toll is 318, 400 people. Among other South Asian nations, Afghanistan's DALYs/1000 is 255, Bangladesh 64 and Sri Lanka 61. By contrast, the DALYs/1000 figures are 14 for Singapore and 32 for China.
India lags behind its neighbors, Pakistan and Bangladesh, on human development indices like life expectancy at birth and mean or average years of schooling and gender parity, a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report released last year said.
Titled "Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development", the report had a global launch and was released at the UN in New York by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, according to media reports.
According to the report, life expectancy at birth in India is 64.4 years, while in Pakistan it is 67.2 years. In Bangladesh, life expectancy is 66.9 years.
''And thus the caste system virtually leaves lower caste Hindus in to an oppressed majority in India’s power structure.'' Indian society is still following the heirarchies of caste at social
level. But at political level it is all together a different
matter.Two large most populus states Bihar and UP are continuously run by dalits and backward classes for last 2 decades. In the highly
enlightened state Tamil Nadu the power is equally shared by backward classes or perhaps even more. Even if the present chief minister is a brahmin, that state
compulsarily follows a whopping 69% reservation to backward classes. At the end 15 year rule of Lalu's era in bihar, a person from backward class commented, ''earlier when we were walking, forward class people used
to spit before us and we used to jump out of the way. Now we are
spitting and they are jumping out of the way''.Even the present CM of bihar, nitish kumar belongs a very backward class. when he won the election for second consecutive time with sadak,siksha,suraksha slogan
(roads, education and law and order) with overwhelming majority
against Lalu by showing vast improvement in law and order in
development then an analyst commeted '' had it not been for Lalu who buldozed his way into uppercastes possession of tyrannycal political and social power, then Nitish would not have existed now''.So in a way
Indian democracy,with all its flaws, is providing a breather for the oppressed sections of extremely feudal society, albeit painfully slowly. In India and (in Pakistan also I guess) with emergence of middle class due raise of economy,large number of people(small in
percentage of total population) are escaping the miserable life of
fuedal society. But are backward classes of Pakistan able to raise to heights of political power? ( It is quite another matter that
Mayavathi now and lalu then went on feeding themselves through lot of corruption instead of uplifting the economic state of the very
backward classes they represented)
Dear Riaz
the figures
India 11.4 million
Bangladesh 5.4 million
Pakistan 4.7 million
give some false idea of immigration. India is 6 times larger than Pakistan or Bangladesh. Also the figures of India contains people who left beofre the creation of Pakistan or Bangladesh. So the rate of immigration from Pakistan and Bangladesh is at least 6 times higher than India's. Alo the foreign remittences for India is mostly through middle east workers. Usually the other diaspora from USA etc contribute very little.
Anon: "So the rate of immigration from Pakistan and Bangladesh is at least 6 times higher than India's.."
Where's the evidence? Opinions are not facts!
A 2006 opinion poll by Outlook—AC Nielsen shows that 46 % of India's urban class wants to settle down in US.
If US did not limit immigration from high-immigration countries like India, it would be inundated by Indians.
Here's a fact about the "Money Order Economy" of the Indian state of Kerala often ignored:
Kerala has about two million people working overseas out of the total state population of about 30 million, according to BBC's Soutik Biswas....two orders of magnitude higher proportion (66 per 1000) than either Bangladesh (0.65 per 1000) or Pakistan (0.5 per 1000), according to Nationmaster. Their remittances may be one of the reasons why Kerala has less poverty and higher social indicators than the rest of India.
Here's a France24 story about New York's "Little Pakistan":
Following the 9/11 attacks of 2001, renewed fears of terrorism turned the New York community of Little Pakistan into a ghost town. But 10 years later, this Brooklyn neighbourhood has learned some important lessons in community activism.
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In Little Pakistan, a New York neighbourhood where the store signs are in English and Urdu, the rich smell of freshly fried samsosas entices mothers in hijabs walking their children home from school.
On the corner of Coney Island and Foster avenues, a cheerful, matronly woman roasting corn on a charcoal spit provides a lively commentary on the neighborhood. “This is Little Pakistan, it's going well here,” Kaneez Fatima says, in her native Urdu. “This is my home. I'm the queen of this place,” she adds with a throaty laugh. Around her, a clutch of clients chomping her roasted corn sportingly agree.
Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, commerce is brisk – or as brisk as one could hope for during an economic crisis – along this stretch of Coney Island Avenue.
The area has come a long way since the dark days following the biggest terrorist attacks on US soil. As law enforcement officials began patrolling here and detaining hundreds of Pakistani immigrants – often for minor infractions – in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, a climate of fear gripped the community. Numerous wives, mothers and sisters, some of them non-English speakers, had no idea back then where their menfolk were being held.
In the following months, once-thriving stores permanently closed their shutters as thousands of Pakistani immigrants packed up and left, often either for Canada or Pakistan. By May 2003, about 15,000 of the once 120,000-strong community had left, according to Pakistani government estimates.
----
Of the estimated 700,000 Pakistani-Americans, roughly two-thirds live in the New York area. Over the past decade, Little Pakistan has periodically turned into a focal point for journalists who swoop down on the area to take the community's temperature with every new black mark on Pakistan's terrorism track record.
And there have been many black marks. In May 2010, a newly nationalised US citizen of Pakistani origin attempted to detonate an explosive device in a car on Times Square. When he was arrested, Faisal Shahzad admitted to receiving bomb-making training in Pakistan’s Waziristan province.
A year later, US Navy SEALS and CIA operatives found and killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a house in Abbottabad, not far from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, renewing US suspicions that Pakistan's military establishment is protecting Islamist militants.
With every crisis in US-Pakistani relations, community leaders in Little Pakistan spring into action, taking to the airwaves to reiterate the community's rejection of violence and their history of being patriotic, law-abiding US citizens.
------------
COPO, for instance, was founded by a local businessman who turned his fabric store into a temporary community service centre, believing that once the neighbourhood's immediate problems were resolved, he would close down the organisation and get back to business.
Engaging with America
Nearly a decade later, COPO not only survives but has vastly expanded its operations, conducting English-language classes, youth programs and forums where law enforcement officials meet with community members in order to discuss each other's concerns.
Caught unprepared shortly after 9/11, the community is now keenly aware of the importance of empowering its members to engage actively with officials in their new home, rather than fearing and fleeing them.
...
Here's a brief summary of Pakistan foreign education market put together by the British Council:
Pakistan is one of the six countries which accounts for 54 percent of the UK’s (non-EU) international students. After September 2001, it has become the market leader, a place traditionally taken by the US, but the US is picking up after a long time, owing to simplified visa procedures and increased marketing efforts, not to forget the excellent scholarship opportunities that thy have to offer Pakistani students.
There were 5222 students from Pakistan studying in the United States in 2009/2010 (Source:IIE Opendoors). Pakistan now has the largest Fulbright Scholarship Programme in the world. There is an upward trend of Pakistani students studying in Australia. 2557 students studied in Australia in 2009/2010 compared to 2190 in 2008/2009 (Source: AEI). Other European countries have also become quite active in marketing their education in Pakistan. Countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are more visible and perceived as offering quality education at lower prices. UK has remained the highest in this with 10,420 students studying in the UK in 2009/2010 (HESA, 2011).
Market opportunities
Pakistan is predominantly a postgraduate market, of the students currently studying in the UK, approximately 71 per cent are postgraduate and 29 per cent undergraduate. While the further education market is still relatively small, there is potential for growth, as there is a greater need for skills in a more service sector-led economy.
One-year Master's programmes are popular, due to their shorter duration compared to competitors. A further major aspect of the postgraduate market is the relatively wide availability of scholarships by UK institutions and Government funding agencies. In addition to the Pakistan Government‘s new overseas scholarship schemes, this target group also has access to scholarships offered by international organisation such as IMF, Commonwealth and World Bank. Popular subject areas are for 2009- 2010 are Business Studies, Engineering, Computer Sciences, Social Sciences followed by law.
Based on HESA statistics, the total number of Pakistani students enrolled in the UK was 10,420 in 2009 / 2010, a 2 percent growth on 2008/2009.
There is also significant growth in GCE O- and A-levels conducted in Pakistan, which naturally leads to demand for UK undergraduate study. More than 46,000 students took these examinations in 2010 / 2011. Popular subjects include business, law, accountancy, IT, management and engineering.
Foundation programmes have a market in Pakistan as a pathway from 12-year study into UK higher education.
Vocational programmes are a new market in Pakistan, with increasing student awareness of the opportunities. National Vocational and Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC) is a regulatory body for promoting linkages among various stakeholders to address challenges aced by Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET)....
Pakistan is among the biggest sources of foreign students for OECD countries' colleges and universities. Here's how the Australians see Pakistan's education market:
The education and training sector has been one of the major contributors of Australian services exports into Pakistan market.
Australia is increasingly being recognised as a supplier of a quality education services, with very significant advantages in terms of cost vis a vis UK and USA. To ensure that Australian education providers remain interested and committed to the market, Austrade works closely with both agents and institutions to value add and extend full cooperation and assistance to sustain and increase market share.
The market demand has doubled over the last three years but one of the major constrain to this growth has been the political and economic instability in addition to travel advisory with certain travel restrictions, issues such as lengthy student visa process (now shifted to Adelaide), and less participation/visit of institutions’ representative in the education events or interview/seminar programs.
There is substantial demand in Pakistan from students, parents and employers for private quality higher education along with a willingness and capacity to pay comparatively high fees. Private institutions are seeking affiliations with universities abroad to ensure they offer information and training that is of international standards.
International donor agencies such as DFID and USAID are funding various projects focusing on teacher’s training and capacity building of the public sector institutions.
In response to increased trade competition and need for a high performing work force, the Government of Pakistan is strongly emphasising vocational training.
Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) system delivers training that is practical and career-oriented could service some of this demand.
The online delivery of programs has potential where Pakistani residents wish to enhance their skills, but are not able to undertake long-term study out of the country. Hospitality is one area where distance education is a preferred option.
Doing business in Pakistan is not without hurdles. Security concerns, inadequate infrastructure and differences in business culture are some of the major challenges faced by Australian institutions or exporters, but the opportunities are not to be underestimated.
Competitive environment
The USA, the UK and Australia are the three destinations most popular with Pakistani students. Most students at the Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree level locally are looking for opportunities to study abroad, often while they complete their Pakistani studies.
An overseas qualification improves chances of gaining a better opportunity in the job market.
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Education-to-Pakistan/default.aspx
Here's an excerpt from an Op Ed in Express Tribune about Pakistan's "demographic dividend":
Pakistan has a rare opportunity to capitalise on its population bulge, fast turning into a ‘youth bulge’. It is faced with a demographic transition whereby the size of the working age population (15-64 years) will expand to occupy a larger share of the total population. This is expected to decrease the dependency ratio, lead to increased savings and long-term investment trends as more people will be working. This outcome has a direct influence on economic growth. But provided that the working age people are actually working and that the gender and educational gap do not keep potential workforces including females, out of the job market.
With around 50 per cent of the population below 20 years and 60 per cent below 30 years, Pakistan is poised for a ‘demographic dividend’, with its workforce growing at a faster rate than total population. This trend is estimated to continue for the next 30-40 years, depending upon the country’s pace of development. Pakistan’s population is projected to reach a staggering 350 million by 2050, almost double its present size, not a very encouraging indicator by itself. But the projected age structure in various demographic studies shows a sizable share to be occupied by the working age group progressively.
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A successful outcome will finally depend on the economy’s ability to absorb the multiplying work force into productive employment. This requires a proactive approach from policy makers to develop a comprehensive framework for infrastructure development and manpower training. The immense benefits and equally innumerable risks involved have to be timely realised.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/275878/demographic-dividend--opportunity-or-threat/
World Bank’s new estimates released on Thursday placed Pakistan among top 10 recipients of remittances among developing countries, fetching $12 billion this year, reports Dawn:
India leads with $58 billion followed by China at $57 billion, Mexico $24 billion and the Philippines $23 billion.
Bangladesh follows Pakistan with $12 billion, Nigeria 11 billion, Vietnam $9 billion and Egypt and Lebanon $8 billion each.
Remittance costs have fallen steadily from 8.8 per cent in 2008 to 7.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2011.
The ‘Outlook for Remittance Flow 2012-14’ shows that the officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries are estimated to have reached $351 billion in 2011, up 8 per cent over 2010.
Worldwide remittance flows, including those to high-income countries, reached $406 billion in 2011 and are expected to rise to $515 billion by 2014.
There are several sources of vulnerability to forecasts for remittances to developing countries.
The ongoing debt crisis in Europe and high unemployment rates in high-income OECD countries are adversely affecting economic and employment prospects of migrants.
These persistently high unemployment rates have created political pressures to reduce current levels of immigration.
There are risks that if the European crisis deepens, immigration controls in these countries could become even tighter.
This would affect remittance flows to all regions – especially to countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The World Bank report says that high oil prices, which have hovered over $100 a barrel in recent months, continue to provide a much-needed cushion for migrant employment in, and remittance flows from, the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) and Russia. Oil driven economic activities and increased spending on infrastructure development are making these countries attractive for migrants from developing countries.
Remittances from the GCC countries to Bangladesh and Pakistan where the GCC countries account for 60 per cent or more of overall remittance inflows grew by 8 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively in the first three quarters of 2011 on a year-on-year basis.
The Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI), a joint initiative of the central bank and Pakistan’s government, has been working actively with commercial banks and money transfer operators to lower the cost of inward remittances and improve the payments systems and delivery channels in order to bring a larger share of remittances into formal channels.
The indigenisation programmes being considered or implemented in the GCC countries like the ‘Nitaqat’ programme in Saudi Arabia have raised concerns of adverse implications for future remittances to the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other migrant-sending countries, it says.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/02/wb-report-pakistan-among-top-10-recipients-of-remittances.html
Here's an Express Tribune report on US Congressman Kucinich speaking to Pakistani-American doctors in America:
WASHINGTON: A United States Congressman from Ohio has called on his government to apologise to Pakistan, and for NATO to pay compensation to the families of 24 soldiers killed in a NATO air strike on a Pakistani border check post on November 26.
Speaking at an event organised by the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, a Democrat, said relations with Pakistan was a critical issue. “We need to apologise to the people of Pakistan, NATO must pay reparations to the families of the soldiers.”
His remarks come a day after US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham called for Pakistan’s funding to be reviewed.
(Read: Key US Senators urge review of Pakistan funding)
Pakistani doctors face visa wall to working in US
Dr Zaffar Iqbal, a member of the 17000-member strong APPNA said “Last year, only 90 doctors came to work in the US.”
Speaking to The Express Tribune on the sidelines of an event organized by APPNA at the Rayburn House Office Building to highlight to Congressmen the issues faced by Pakistani physicians applying for visas to work in the US, Dr Iqbal said numerous young physicians applying for visas to work in the US are facing delays or are being rejected by the US embassy and consulates. “They don’t get their visas on time, and hence can’t join their residencies that they’ve been offered.” Dr Iqbal said that hospitals then become reluctant to offer residencies to Pakistani physicians.
He added that due to less Pakistanis being given visas, the number of Indian doctors coming to the US to work has more than doubled in the past few years.
Dr Manzoor Tariq, President of APPNA, said that they had held meetings with the State Department and Homeland Security to urge them to facilitate the process.
The event also saw a number of members of Congress attending, and looking at APPNA posters highlighting statistics of the decrease in Pakistani physicians coming to the US. APPNA says that a majority of Pakistani doctors work in the rural areas of the US, and provide a vital service to the country.
Addressing the event, Congressman Kucinich said, “I’m aware of complexities around US-Pakistan relations, but you are our brothers and sisters, and we need to help facilitate those who want to take care of people here”.
Paying tribute to the Pakistani community in her district of Nevada, Congresswoman Birkley added that the US was facing a shortage of medical professionals, and offered her support to APPNA to push for more visas for Pakistani doctors.
Other members of Congress who attended the event and lent support to APPNA included Senator Bob Casey, Claire McCaskill, Congressman Guthrie and others.
Addressing the event, Tim Lenderking, the head of the Pakistan desk at the State Department, said that it was important to talk to the Embassy. “Pakistan has done a great job in contributing to healthcare in the United States, and we want to support that.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly quoted Dr Iqbal that this year 90 doctors from Pakistan came to the US. Also Congressman Kucinich was listed a Republican. This is incorrect. The error is regretted.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/303012/us-should-appologise-to-pakistan-nato-pay-reparations-to-soldiers-congressman-kucinich/
Here are some of the highlights of Pakistani-American data from US Census 2010 as gleaned from a report titled "A Community of Contrasts Asian Americans in the United States: 2011" published by Asian-American Center For Advancing Justice:
1. There are 409,163 Pakistani-Americans in 2010, the 7th largest Asian-American community in America.
2. Pakistani-American population doubled from 2000 to 2010, the second largest percentage increase after Bangladeshis' 157% increase in the same period.
3. 6% of Pakistani-American population is mixed race.
4. 65% of Pakistanis in America are foreign-born. 57% of Pakistani-American population is naturalized citizens.
5. There are 120,000 Pakistani legal permanent residents of which 42% are eligible to naturalize.
6. There were 69,202 immigrant visas issued to Pakistanis from 2001 to 2010.
7. 28% of Pakistanis have limited English proficiency.
8. Average per capita income of Pakistani-Americans is $24,663.00 and 15% of them are classified as poor.
9. 55% of Pakistanis own their own homes.
10. 55% of Pakistanis have bachelor's degree or higher.
http://www.advancingjustice.org/pdf/Community_of_Contrast.pdf
Pakistan has 5 million illegal immigrants, reports Daily Times:
The National Assembly was told on Friday that about five million illegal immigrants were residing in different parts of the country due to local and regional disturbances.
In a written statement, the Ministry of Interior told the NA that out of the five million illegal immigrants, approximately two million were Bangladeshis, 2.5 million were Afghans, and 0.5 million other nationals, including Africans, Iranians, Iraqis and Myanmarese, who had been living in the country for more than three decades.
The main reasons for these illegal immigrants was said to be partition of Pakistan in 1971, Cold War in Afghanistan in 1980’s, poor law and order situation in Iraq, and the availability of safe havens in Pakistan. The Interior Ministry said that the friendly policies and international obligations of Pakistan to accommodate Afghan refugees was another reason for illegal immigrants in the country.
The NA was told that the government had taken a number of measures to discourage the inflow of illegal immigrants, including establishment of Anti-Trafficking Units at provincial police headquarters for combating internal human trafficking. For reducing illegal foreigner inflow the government has replaced Personal Identification Secure Comparison Evaluation System (PISCES) with Integrated Border Management System (IBMS) having biometric facility.
The Upper House was informed that the Interior Ministry has blacklisted traffickers, introduced Machine Readable Passports (MRP), established an immigration check-post at zero point-250 in Balochistan. The government has also promulgated Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance (PACHTO) 2002.
Due to such efforts, Pakistan has been upgraded from Tier-II Watch List to Tier-II in the annual Trafficking in Person Report (TIP) 2010, published by the State Department of the United States. This year Pakistan maintained its Tier-II status.
The NA was told that to further strengthen the immigration system, particulars of all passengers with multiple passports and multiple CNICs are placed on the “Stop Person’s List” in PISCES, which is installed at Exit and Entry checkposts of the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) at airports.
This helps in detaining illegal immigrants, who are then handed over to the FIA and Anti-Human Trafficking Circles (AHTC) for legal action in accordance with the relevant laws.
The Interior Ministry said that 9,590 cases of multiples passports had been blocked in the system and legal action was underway.
The ministry said that the government had given general amnesty to such persons to surrender their multiple CNICs and passports voluntarily. However, 3,110 applications had been received for cancellation of one extra passport, out of which 1,720 passports had been cancelled, while 1,390 cases were pending for want of verification by security agencies or deposit of requisite fee.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\01\07\story_7-1-2012_pg7_6
Here's Express Tribune on Saudi Arabia hiring thousands of Pakistani doctors:
Dr Nawaz* (not his real name) is a medical officer (MO) at Mayo Hospital and, like all government-employed doctors in BPS-17, got a Rs15,000 raise last year, taking his monthly pay to Rs44,000. Yesterday, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health offered him a job for 6,000 riyals (Rs145,000) a month.
“It’s a handsome offer. I’m going to take it,” said the doctor after an interview with the Overseas Employment Corporation, a Pakistani government agency that is hiring doctors for Saudi Arabia.
At Mayo Hospital, Dr Nawaz has to serve in shifts of up to 48 hours straight. In Saudi Arabia, he will get two days off each week and work eight-hour days.
“Here we have a lot of uncertainty. We cannot get a raise unless we protest and boycott work. I am getting out of it,” he said.
Dr Nawaz has been in a government job for three years and said he would resign before leaving. However, many doctors with more years in government service will likely seek permission from the government to go on leave to Saudi Arabia so they can return to their government jobs upon coming back to Pakistan.
Two private Saudi agencies are also interviewing Pakistani doctors for posts in government hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Saturday was the last day of interviews in Lahore. Interviews in Islamabad will take place from January 11 to 13.
“Around 3,000 doctors have been interviewed in Lahore for different positions including residents and consultants,” an OEC official told The Express Tribune.
He said that the Saudi government had recently built a lot of new hospitals and they were short of doctors. He did not say how many doctors the Saudis aimed to hire from Pakistan.
Residents (trainee doctors) are being offered salaries of between 5,000 (Rs121,000) and 8,000 riyals (Rs193,000), while consultants with a fellowship are being offered between 12,000 (Rs290,000) and 16,000 (Rs387,000) riyals. Senior professors and associate professors are being offered up to 30,000 riyals (Rs725,000) per month.
Last year, the Saudi Ministry of Health hired a thousand Pakistani doctors. Shortly afterwards, government-employed doctors in Punjab went on strike to demand better pay.
“This time they are going to hire more doctors,” said a senior doctor who went for an interview.
“The Indian government has just increased the salaries of public doctors and no Indian doctors are going to Saudi Arabia. They are focusing more on Pakistani doctors this year.” The Pakistan Medical Association warned that the country was losing its best doctors to Saudi Arabia and urged the government to improve the service structure for health professionals to stop the brain drain.
“The government on one hand claims to invest in health and education and on the other it does nothing to stop the brain drain,” said PMA Joint Secretary Dr Salman Kazmi.
“The government announces a pay package for doctors and nurses only when they go on strike or take to the streets. This is no solution. The government needs to develop a structure otherwise we may run out doctors.”
A Health Department spokesman said that the government couldn’t match the salaries offered to doctors abroad, especially when they had only recently been given raises. He said the government spent hundreds of millions of rupees on educating and training doctors and they should consider reasons other than monetary for working in Pakistan.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/318194/saudi-arabia-to-import-thousands-of-pakistani-doctors/
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