Sunday, December 31, 2023

The Great Indian Brain Drain Accelerates

India is losing its best and brightest to the West, particularly to the United States, at an increasingly rapid pace. A 2023 study of the 1,000 top scorers in the 2010 entrance exams to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) — a network of prestigious institutions of higher learning based in 23 Indian cities — revealed the scale of the problem. Around 36% migrated abroad, and of the top 100 scorers, 62% left the country, according to a report in the science journal Nature.  Nearly two-thirds of those leaving India are highly educated, having received academic or vocational training. This is the highest for any country, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Example of The Great Indian Brain Drain. Source: Boston Political Review

Brain drain is defined as the loss of precious human capital of a nation. It is a “consequence of an education system designed for ‘selecting’ the best and brightest in an economy that is still too controlled and cannot create opportunities for its best and brightest”, according to Indian economist Shruti Rajagopalan. High-profile examples of India's human capital loss include Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Sundar Pichai (Google), Shantanu Narayen (Adobe), Arvind Krishna (IBM) and Ajay Banga (World Bank). 

Foreign-Born STEM Workers in America. Source: American Immigration Council


Growing number of Indian students are going abroad for higher education each year and 90% of them never return home after completing their studies.  In 2022, the number of Indian students leaving the country for higher education reached a six-year high of 770,000. And a 2021 report estimated that around two million Indian students would be studying abroad by 2024. 

Many developing countries are experiencing brain drain. But India is losing its best brightest at a much faster rate than others. Some call it "The Great Indian Brain Drain". This is the reason why Indians in the United States are the best educated and the highest earning group.  In a recently published book titled "The Other One Percent", authors Sanjoy Chakravorty, Devesh Kapur and Nirvikar Singh explain this phenomenon. 

They write that the vast majority of Indians who migrate to the United States are from privileged backgrounds in terms of caste, class and education. They have gone through “a triple selection” process that gave Indian-Americans a boost over typically poor and uneducated immigrants who come to the United States from other countries. The first two selections took place in India. As explained in the book: “The social system created a small pool of persons to receive higher education, who were urban, educated, and from high/dominant castes.” India’s examination system then selected individuals for specialized training in technical fields that also happened to be in demand in the United States. Kapur estimated that the India-American population is nine times more educated than individuals in the home country. Here's an excerpt of it:

"A major focus of this book is on demonstrating and understanding the multiple selections that shaped the Indian-American population. These selections applied not only to education (that, in terms of attaining college degrees, made the India-born population three times more educated than that in the host country and nine times more educated than the home country’s population) but also to class and caste (favoring, by large margins, the “upper” and dominant classes and castes of India), profession (engineering, IT, and health care), and both the region of origin (Gujarati and Punjabi were overrepresented in the first two phases, and Telugu and Tamil in the third phase) and region of settlement (in specific metropolitan clusters in and around New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Houston and Dallas). In addition to direct selection is what we call the “selection+” advantage: we suggest that group characteristics or norms, such as the fact that Indians had the highest propensity to live in married-couple households of any major immigrant group, added to the advantages of being an already selected group. We show, in particular, how family norms were useful in keeping the Indian-American poverty level low (under 5 percent) and family income high (the highest in the United States). It is also likely that the selection process enabled, without explicitly intending to, the generation of high levels of social capital (through linguistic/ professional networks such as Gujarati entrepreneurs in the hotel industry, Telugu and Tamil workers in the IT industry, IIT engineers, Malayali nurses, Bengali academics, etc.)"

Doctor Brain Drain. Source: Statista

Asian Americans are the best educated among all Americans of various races and ethnicities, including whites. Within Asian Americans, the Indians (three quarters) have the highest educational attainment with at least a bachelor's degree, followed by Koreans and Pakistanis (about 60% each). 

Asian American Educational Achievement by Countries of Origin. Source: US Census


Asians, including Chinese/Taiwanese, Indians and Pakistanis, tend to be concentrated in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Technology) fields where incomes are generally much higher than in other occupations. 

As of 2019, there were 35,000 Pakistan-born STEM workers in the United States, according to the American Immigration Council. They included information technologists, software developers, engineers and scientists. These figures do not include medical doctors and healthcare workers. 

Foreign-born workers make up a growing share of America's STEM workforce. As of 2019, foreign-born workers made up almost a quarter of all STEM workers in the country. This is a significant increase from 2000, when just 16.4% of the country’s STEM workforce was foreign-born. Between 2000 and 2019, the overall number of STEM workers in the United States increased by 44.5 percent, from 7.5 million to more than 10.8 million, according to American Immigration Council

India and Pakistan Among Top 10 Countries Receiving US Immigrant Visas. Source: Visual Capitalist


India topped the top 10 list of foreign-born STEM workers with 721,000, followed by China (273,000), Mexico (119,000), Vietnam (100,000), Philippines (87,000), South Korea (64,000), Canada (56,000), Taiwan (53,000), Russia (45,000) and Pakistan (35,000).  Enormous number of Indian STEM workers in the United States can at least partly be attributed to the fact that India's "body shops" have mastered the art of gaming the US temporary work visa system. Last year, Indian nationals sponsored by "body shops" like Cognizant, Infosys and TCS received 166,384 H1B visas for work in the United States. By comparison, only 1,107 Pakistanis were granted H1B visas in Fiscal Year 2022.  In addition to H1B work visas, 9,300 Indian nationals and 7,200 Pakistani nationals received immigrant visas to settle in the United States as permanent residents in 2021. 

In addition to 35,000 Pakistan-born STEM workers, there were 12,454 Pakistan-born and Pakistan-trained medical doctors practicing in the United States, making the South Asian nation the second largest source of medical doctors in America.  Pakistan produced 157,102 STEM graduates last year, putting it among the world's top dozen or so countries. About 43,000 of these graduates are in information technology (IT).

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17 comments:

Ismail Mahomed said...

This is looking at the glass, half-empty.

Remittances to India from the US was $110 billion in 2022-23.

These guys came here for their Masters education and progressed from there. India does not have the same ecosystem as we do here in the US for them to thrive. Furthermore, they've set up massive offshore campuses in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai amongst others, resulting in all those local economies going gangbusters. The Indian government can take credit for setting up the IITs and other university systems which greatly benefited them. Infrastructure-wise, the government ha failed dismally.

So net-net, India has benefited massively from the brain drain.

Riaz Haq said...

Ismail: "This is looking at the glass, half-empty. Remittances to India from the US was $110 billion in 2022-23"

Remittances to India from the US do NOT add up $110 billion.

A quarter of the total $125 billion remittances to India came from the US in 2023. About a fifth came from UAE, the 2nd largest source after US.

Remittances are not a good measure of a nation’s success. If they were, Pakistan with its $30 billion in remittances would be considered proportionally more successful than India with its $125 billion in remittances.

On India, the World Bank said the main contributing factors are declining inflation and strong labour markets in high-income source countries, which boosted remittances from highly skilled Indians in the US, the UK, and Singapore, which collectively account for 36 per cent of the total remittance flows to New Delhi. “Remittance flows to India were also boosted by higher flows from the GCC, especially the UAE, which accounts for 18 per cent of India’s total remittances and is the second-largest source of them after the US,” the report said.

https://indianexpress.com/article/business/india-tops-remittance-flow-2023-world-bank-9075027/#

Ismail Mahomed said...

I stand corrected on the remittances total.

What about the mega-success stories of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Gurgaon? Tech has transformed these places. Not that India is a Nirvana state, but you've got to call a spade, a spade, and a success, a success.

Half-full or half-empty? That's always been the question 😀

Riaz Haq said...

Ismail: "What about the mega-success stories of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Gurgaon? Tech has transformed these places. Not that India is a Nirvana state, but you've got to call a spade, a spade, and a success, a success"


The workforce employed in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Gurgaon is too small for a country the size of India. Please note the following:

Nearly two-thirds of those leaving India are highly educated, having received academic or vocational training. This is the highest for any country, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

No wonder India has a serious unemployment problem at all levels of education.


https://www.riazhaq.com/2021/12/india-in-crisis-unemployment-and-hunger.html

Vineeth said...

I repeat this question again. Why this disproportionate and senseless obsession for India in your articles, sir? Is Pakistan doing wonderfully as regards to retaining its educated populace? Are highly educated Pakistanis choosing to stay back in Pakistan to use their skills to build their homeland? (Being a Pakistani-American, weren't you part of the "brain drain" from your home country too?)

Perhaps educated Indians are in greater demand than their Pakistani counterparts in more affluent nations, or that educated Indians have greater opportunities to emigrate to the West. I have no idea, really. But what I do know is that with all this recurring political turmoil and never-ending economic crisies, Pakistan is going to face greater trouble than India in the long-term in developing its human resources.

Perhaps you should give "India" some rest and pay some attention to all the dismal news coming from Pakistan these days (in Pakistani media outlets itself). But if "India-bashing" is indeed giving you some relief and comfort from all the bad news that come from your own homeland, go ahead by all means.

Vineeth said...

I can't answer for the other STEM fields, but several of my relatives who work in the IT sector are long settled in US. At least during the time period I worked in the IT sector (2005 - 2016) in various companies, the opportunities in Indian IT companies (including Indian units of MNCs) to work "on-site" in Western nations were plenty and many took advantage of them. While some returned after a few years and settled here, others chose to stay for the long term. And I am pretty sure this would have been the case of Pakistanis as well if they had as many opportunities as Indian IT professionals did. I mean, there would be very few in the subcontinent (and the wider developing world) who would say "no" to prospects of better pay and a better life in the West. So, I would argue that if Indian immigrants constitute a disproprotionately greater percentage in the IT and other STEM sectors of US and other Western states than Pakistanis do (even accounting for the difference in population), it is likely a case of Indians having greater opportunities to do so than Pakistanis due to the former's large IT industry and the reputation of some premier Indian technical and management institutes (like IITs, IIMs, IISc, BITS, VIT etc).

Anonymous said...

"I repeat this question again. Why this disproportionate and senseless obsession for India"

Wrong question. You should be asking why is he the only person telling the truth? Why are others not mentioning facts about India. Why is no one is asking why India is such a hell hole, why did it slip to 111 on hunger index?. Why is India 122nd on women's empowerment? etc.

Btw, you probably didn't get the memo that no one gives a rat's behind about your opinion or cares about your suggestions.

G. Ali

Vineeth said...

@G Ali, It IS the right question to ask. The article pertains to an issue that is essentially an internal matter of India and would have made sense had it been written by an Indian. However, the author of this piece is a Pakistani-American, and I am at a loss to understand what interest or he could have in India's "brain drain". I can understand it when Pakistani authors write articles about Kashmir, the religious persecution of Muslims in India, or India's aggressive regional posturing and arms purchases, because as Pakistanis and Muslims they may have a stake in them. But poverty? "Brain drain"? Tell me one good reason why it should matter to either Pakistan or US that India is having "brain drain"? India's "brain drain" is India's problem, and contrary to your impression, it is a problem that Indian columnists themselves have highlighted many times in Indian media itself.

Secondly, such "brain drain" isn't peculiar to India at all, but affects most of the developing world as Western states offers better pay and better living standards. Think about it. How many people living in a developing nation would pass over an opportunity to a better life in the West? I know I wouldn't. If there are less number of Pakistanis doing it, that's likely because Pakistanis are getting less opportunity to do so. Take the IT sector for instance. In India, the IT industry is HUGE. I myself worked in the sector for 11 years. Most of our clients were based in US or Europe, and we had plenty of opportunities to go "on-site" and work at the client locations for years. Many of those who went to US chose to stay there for extended duration. If Pakistan had an IT industry that was proportionately large, you would have seen a similar phenomenon happening there as well.

Besides, consider the situation Pakistan is going through with its never-ending cycle of political instability and economic crisis. Is Pakistan better off in this respect? Are more Pakistanis "choosing" to stay back and live in Pakistan because their home country provides better living conditions and employment opportunities than India, or is it that they don't have as much skills or opportunities as their Indian counterparts do to legally work in the West or emigrate? I think it is the latter.

As for the statistics that you quote regarding Hunger Index or Women's empowerment, let me remind you that Pakistan is not in a much better position in these either even if it happens to be a few ranks above. The subcontinent as whole (with the possible exception of Sri Lanka) fares badly in all of these social indicators. But what makes the situation of Pakistan far worse in comparison to India is that its economic fundamentals are precarious as well. India's problems might appear large and complex enough on account of its huge population, but then India isn't the country here begging for aid or IMF bailouts year after year. Indian economy, though substantially smaller than China's, is still stable, strong and growing by subcontinental standards. It has a large industrial base with growing exports. It has over 600 billion USD in Forex reserves.

The author should really worry more about where Pakistan and its economy is heading.

Majumdar said...

Vineet Bro, Let me explain. Brofessor sb writes mainly on two topics. 1 Good news on Pakiland. 2. Bad news on India. Since it is unlikely that there will be #1 anytime soon, we can only expect to read up on #2. Regards

Anonymous said...

Vineeth, first of all I neither have time nor inclination to read long propaganda lectures. Second, if you can't explain your ideas in a few sentences then there is something wrong with your thought process.

Third, you should check how much time your media spends on discussing Pakistan. You have no moral or ethical right to criticize or give suggestions to others when your own house is not in order.

G. Ali

Anonymous said...

Majumdar"1 Good news on Pakiland. 2. Bad news on India."

Doesn't that restore your faith on humanity? At least there is one person who is telling the truth. That Pakistan is not as bad as domestic and international media portrays it and the fascist Republic of India is not really shinning.

He always provides facts and figures, when you guys can't argue with them you start personal attacks or mind your own business "suggestions".

G. Ali

Riaz Haq said...

The establishment of the National Center for Quantum Computing could be a critical step – if Pakistan can overcome economic constraints and a significant brain drain.
By Zohaib Altaf and Nimrah Javed
June 27, 2024

https://thediplomat.com/2024/06/pakistans-quantum-quest-hurdles-and-hopes/

Pakistan is poised to make significant strides in the field of quantum technology with the establishment of its National Center for Quantum Computing, as announced by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal. This initiative marks a critical step toward overcoming the global quantum divide – if Pakistan can overcome the associated challenges, including economic constraints and a significant brain drain.

Globally, the quantum technology market is expected to burgeon, reaching an estimated $106 billion by 2040. This growth is fueled by robust investments, with private investors pouring $1.5 billion into quantum startups in 2023 alone. Public sector investment has also been significant, surpassing $38 billion globally. The United States, European Union, and Canada collectively committed over $3 billion in 2022. China leads the way with a staggering $15.3 billion total investment.

Despite these global advancements, a significant quantum divideexists, as the majority of countries lack national quantum initiatives. This divide creates substantial disparities in technological capabilities and economic opportunities. Countries without robust quantum technology infrastructures are at risk of falling behind, facing increased cyber vulnerabilities, and struggling to compete in the global economy.

For Pakistan, this divide is particularly concerning. Kaspersky Lab has ranked Pakistan among the most unprotected countriesin terms of cybersecurity, highlighting the urgent need for improved defenses as countries venture into the quantum technology domain.

India’s ambitious quantum initiatives further underscore the challenges facing Pakistan. India’s investment in quantum technology not only bolsters its technological capabilities but also poses a strategic challenge to Pakistan. India has also announced its National Quantum Mission, investing approximately $740 million over eight years. In addition, India is also cooperating with the United States, Australia, and Russia on quantum technology, forging strategic partnerships to enhance its capabilities and position in the global quantum landscape.

The Indian Army’s emphasis on integrating quantum computinginto its defense systems highlights the potential for a significant shift in the regional balance of power. Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir has acknowledged these developments, emphasizing the importance of Pakistan’s investment in quantum computingto maintain its strategic equilibrium.

However, Pakistan’s efforts to establish a successful quantum initiative are hindered by several challenges. The most pressing issue is the ongoing brain drain. From 1971 to 2022, over 6 million highly qualified and skilled professionals emigrated from Pakistan, including doctors, engineers, and IT experts. In 2022 alone, 92,000 highly educated professionals left the country, with nearly 200,000 people emigrating in the first three months of 2023. This trend poses a substantial challenge to Pakistan’s efforts to build and sustain a robust quantum technology sector.

In a country where illiteracy rates are high and educational standards are low, the mass exodus of young and educated professionals is particularly troubling. According to the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, 67 percent of Pakistani youths want to leave the country. This statistic underscores the difficulty of retaining talent and bringing back professionals from abroad to work on quantum initiatives. The challenge is further compounded by Pakistan’s economic situation. The country is currently under an IMF program, which imposes stringent financial constraints and increases the risks associated with investing in high-cost technologies like quantum computing.

Riaz Haq said...

Pakistan’s Top Talent Is Leaving the Country in Record Numbers

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-10-31/pakistan-s-brightest-leave-at-record-pace-with-high-cost-of-living-pkr-drop?embedded-checkout=true

Economic hardship has pushed skilled workers to move abroad, hollowing out banks, hospitals and multinational companies.

One million skilled workers — doctors, engineers, accountants and managers, among others — left Pakistan over the past three years alone, according to a government tally. That makes Pakistan one of the top 10 countries for emigration.

Asad Ejaz Butt is one of Pakistan’s best and brightest. After completing graduate studies in Canada, the economist returned home with a drive to contribute to his home country and its development.

Yet prestigious jobs working under two finance ministers weren’t enough to pay the bills. Over the past few years, as Pakistan’s inflation outranked any other nation in Asia, Butt couldn’t afford basic necessities, including rent. So he left his highly coveted government job and moved back to North America — to buy time and complete another advanced degree.

Riaz Haq said...

As per the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], “In terms of magnitude of the high-skilled diaspora in the OECD area, India takes the lead, with over 3 million tertiary-educated migrants, followed by China [2 million] and the Philippines [1.8 million].”

The findings were published in OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 239. The data refers to 2015/16.

https://www.y-axis.com/news/india-produces-highest-number-highly-educated-migrants/

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This chart shows where the world's highly educated migrants come from

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2020/12/where-do-highly-educated-migrants-come-from/#:~:text=For%20India%2C%20which%20topped%20the,the%20OECD%20%E2%80%93%20or%202.25%20million.

OECD data reveals that there are around 120 million migrants living in OECD member countries. 30 to 35 percent of these migrants are considered highly educated, meaning they have received vocational or academic training. Among the most common birth countries for highly educated migrants, these shares are a lot higher, however.

For India, which topped the list as of 2015/16 with more than three million highly educated migrants in the OECD, the share of those considered of high education status was nearly 65 percent. China had a rate of 48.6 percent highly educated migrants in the OECD – or 2.25 million.

The Philippines come in rank 3, behind the world’s two biggest countries and ahead of a list of OECD nations, naturally trading highly educated personnel back and forth with each other, especially within Europe. 53.3 percent of Filipino immigrants to the OECD are considered highly educated, which brings the total to almost 1.9 million for a country of just over 100 million inhabitants. In a paper on the Philippines, the International Labor Organization finds that many of those high skilled migrants - to OECD countries and elsewhere – were health care professionals, especially nurses. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Philippines government has put a stop to this brain drain at least temporarily by capping the deployment of newly hired nurses at 5,000 per year.

Around half of Filipino migrants in the OECD chose the United States, forming one of the most important migration corridors identified by the OECD, behind Mexican and Indian immigration to the United States and ahead of Polish immigration to Germany.

Riaz Haq said...

Pakistan ranks 91st among the 133 economies featured in the GII 2024. The Global Innovation Index (GII) ranks world economies according to their innovation capabilities. Consisting of roughly 80 indicators, grouped into innovation inputs and outputs, the GII aims to capture the multi-dimensional facets of innovation.

https://www.wipo.int/gii-ranking/en/pakistan

--------------


https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2024/article_0013.html


In more recent years, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Brazil, Indonesia, Mauritius and Pakistan have climbed most in the GII (in order of their ranking). Indonesia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan maintain their overperformer status for a third year and Brazil for a fourth consecutive year.


——————

Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, Singapore and the United Kingdom are the world’s most-innovative economies, while China, Türkiye, India, Viet Nam and the Philippines1 are the fastest 10-year climbers, according to WIPO’s Global Innovation Index (GII) 2024, which shows a softening in venture capital activity, R&D funding and other investment indicators.

Now in its 17th edition, the GII is the world's benchmark resource charting global innovation trends to guide policy makers, business leaders and others in unleashing human ingenuity to improve lives and address shared challenges, like climate change. This year, the GII also looks at “social entrepreneurship,” which uses private-sector practices for positive social change.

The 2024 edition identifies a major softening in leading indicators of future innovative activity, including a reversal of the 2020-2022 boom in innovation investments. Amid higher interest rates, venture capital (VC) funding dropped by about 40 percent in 2023 and growth slipped in research and development (R&D) expenditures, while international patent filings and scientific publications fell.

Riaz Haq said...

Alessandro Palombo
@0x_ale
The hidden truth about India's brain drain?

It's not just about loss, but transformation.

Sometimes the biggest exports aren't products.

They're people who change the world.

This is the new “oil” that nations will compete for.

https://x.com/0x_ale/status/1874897365133643808

----------------------

Alessandro Palombo
@0x_ale
This is India:

- 11% of Fortune 500 CEOs
- 90+ unicorn founders are Indian-born
- 1/3 of all engineers in Silicon Valley are from India

Why have they all left India to succeed?

Here's the hidden truth about the world's most controversial brain drain 🧵:

https://x.com/0x_ale/status/1874896954771329162

-------

Alessandro Palombo
@0x_ale
First, let's understand the scale of this exodus:

- 1.3M Indians left between 2015-2022
- 225,000 renounced citizenship in 2022 alone
- 1.5M Indian students studying overseas

This isn't just migration…it's a transformation of global leadership.


https://x.com/0x_ale/status/1874897002905096520

-----------------


Alessandro Palombo
@0x_ale
The economic impact is staggering:

- IT sector missing $15-20B yearly potential
- Shortage of 2.4M doctors
- $160B lost annually to brain drain

For perspective:

That's more than India's entire defense budget (~$74.3B).

https://x.com/0x_ale/status/1874897020563140714

-----------------


Alessandro Palombo
@0x_ale
Look at the paradox:

India simultaneously:

- Leads global tech companies
- Produces top innovators
- Creates world-class talent

Yet struggles to keep any of them.

The reason? There are a few key factors…

https://x.com/0x_ale/status/1874897054474117197

----------------

Alessandro Palombo
@0x_ale
The reality on the ground:

- 7.33% unemployment rate (2022)
- Significantly lower wages than global standards
- Limited R&D investment
- Restricted innovation opportunities

This creates a powerful push factor.

https://x.com/0x_ale/status/1874897120765132863

-------------------

Alessandro Palombo
@0x_ale
But here's where it gets interesting…

While India loses talent, it gains something else:

- Massive remittance inflows
- Global knowledge transfer
- International influence

A hidden advantage that will only strengthen as global mobility increases

https://x.com/0x_ale/status/1874897153983926344

----------------

Alessandro Palombo
@0x_ale
The story is clear:

- Microsoft
- Google
- Adobe
- IBM

All run by Indians who left India.

But now something fascinating is happening...

https://x.com/0x_ale/status/1874897170282975581

Riaz Haq said...

Workforce exports drive economy

Experts are divided as 2024 sees brain drain of 727,381 but remittances hit $34.6b

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2522190/workforce-exports-drive-economy

LAHORE:
Pakistan's export of manpower to various regions across the globe has become an important aspect of its economic landscape. With millions of Pakistanis working abroad, their contributions via remittances have emerged as a lifeline for the country's economy, especially in times of economic turbulence. However, the accompanying brain drain raises complex questions about the nation's future development.

In 2024, 727,381 Pakistanis left the country seeking better opportunities abroad. According to the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, this figure is nearly 15% lower than the 2023 total of 862,625.

A significant number of these workers ventured to the Middle East, particularly to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where sectors like construction, healthcare, and IT absorbed Pakistani talent.

These workers sent home $34.634 billion in remittances during the calendar year 2024, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), accounting for a substantial portion of the country's foreign reserves. This marks a 31.36% increase from the $26.37 billion received in 2023, reflecting the resilience of expatriate workers amid global economic challenges.

"Remittances are the backbone of our economy. They help the country pay its foreign bills at a time when foreign direct investment and exports are under pressure," said economist Osama Siddiqi. These inflows act as a safety net during economic downturns, ensuring that families dependent on these funds are able to afford basic necessities. Moreover, they support consumption-driven growth, which remains a critical component of Pakistan's economy. "The consistent flow of remittances has shielded Pakistan from severe balance-of-payment crises in the past. Without them, the economic strain would have been much worse," he added.

————



"Indian brain drain is huge, but they are proud of that. We just had an Indian prime minister in the United Kingdom, US presidents now have Indian advisors, and the IT sector and other think tanks are also dominated by Indians. This all is due to brain drain. Though Pakistan needs to upskill its workforce to reach that point, we have to do this for the stable future of our country. Leaving home is never easy; it is a tough journey of dreams and opportunities. Our challenge should be to harness these dreams for the collective good of our nation," Sikander added.