Why Young Pakistanis Are Leaving Pakistan? Is it Brain Gain or Brain?
Many young people all across Pakistan are quietly planning to leave Pakistan for a better future due to political instability and an uncertain environment that is shaped by an unstable economy, lack of quality education, job insecurity, and, one of the main reasons, security concerns.
As more of their peers pursue opportunities abroad, youth migration from Pakistan has shifted from an abstract policy debate to a deeply personal reality. To truly understand why young people choose to leave, we must examine both domestic challenges and the global opportunities that are pulling them overseas.
Records
According to the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment records, over 763,526 people left Pakistan in 2025, and as of January 2026, 75,663. And from 2022 to 2024, nearly 2.5million Pakistanis departed from their motherland.
Reasons Why Youth Leave Pakistan – Causes of Brain Drain in Pakistan
Pakistanis have migrated from one city to another for decades in search of better opportunities. Even after independence, people migrated in different phases, as they left to work, study, and eventually establish diaspora communities worldwide.
So what’s the difference between that phase of migration and today’s migration?
The key difference lies in the unprecedented scale and nature of the event. In the past four to five years, almost 2.9 million people packed their lives in suitcases and departed for different countries.
Moreover, a significant portion of them do not intend to return. The reason behind this large-scale departure of professionals, graduates, and both skilled and unskilled workers is highly acknowledged. Economic and political instability, limited job prospects, low wages, and concerns about security are frequently cited as major push factors.
People across all levels are leaving Pakistan during this extended period of economic stagnation and political uncertainty. The escalating cost of living, presently high unemployment, and low salaries have significantly undermined the ability of many citizens to sustain stable lives. Currently, the country is witnessing a pronounced brain drain, with a substantial outflow of highly skilled professionals. including 18,000 in 2025 alone, driven by limited career advancement opportunities and comparatively low compensation.
Prolonged political instability, security challenges, and broader social uncertainty have further intensified the desire to seek improved living standards and safety abroad.
From students and engineers to doctors and skilled workers, everyone seems to be planning their exit. In the early years of weighted Independence, the migration was mostly because of labour.
In 1970 and 80’s, many Pakistanis went to the Middle East for jobs, others moved to the UK, USA, and Canada for education. But in the last 5 to 6 years situation is different, in two ways:
1- People are leaving Pakistan on a larger scale compared to the early 80s and 2000.
2- It’s not labor migration, but highly educated professionals and IT experts. Doctors, engineers, University graduates, Skilled and unskilled workers, are leaving the country.
It means it is brain drain, not gain.
Pakistan’s Unemployment Crisis Driving Youth Overseas Migration
In 2018, Imran Khan promised 10 million jobs to the country, and created 5.5 million jobs in his three-year tenure, but then his administration made deliberate efforts to expand overseas employment opportunities. In late 2020, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis, Zulfi Bukhari, announced that approximately 980,000 Pakistanis had been sent abroad. The objective was to increase annual residence inflow from $20 billion to at least $30 billion (Khaleej Times Reports).
In the year 2026, CM Punjab Maryam Nawaz set a goal of sending people abroad for Remittance under the Parwaz card, so that the economy of the country can grow.
Financial Crisis, unemployment issues, rising inflation, and limited career growth are discouraging the youth of Pakistan. Graduates face difficulty securing employment, skilled professionals often receive inadequate compensation, and many are forced to focus on meeting basic needs rather than pursuing their aspirations.
This economic pressure not only affects individuals but also places significant strain on families, contributing to communication challenges, emotional distance, and overall stress. Due to the family pressure of unemployment, people are ready for dangerous, illegal, and fatal immigration, who can’t even afford to meet their basic necessities, and neither can they afford international visa fees.
These people mostly include the lower middle-class community who are willing to get a job on any basis, not caring about their lives; all they seem to care about is supporting their families to survive.
Some of them reach their destinations by risking their whole life for a career and settle there for low-wage jobs like mechanics, cleaners, housekeepers, cashiers, dishwashers, or waiter etc. but some people lose their lives while traveling on an unsafe boat while migrating, and their families keep on waiting for a call from their beloved children.
Deportations, Immigration Violations, and Employment Trends in Pakistan (2025)
In 2025, over 50,000 Pakistani nationals were deported from various countries due to violations of host-country laws. The primary cause was immigration-related offenses, including visa overstays, the use of forged travel documents, and breaches of visa conditions. A significant number were also removed for involvement in illegal activities, notably organized begging networks, which led to approximately 24,000 deportations from Saudi Arabia in early 2025, according to reports of Gulf News.
Additional grounds for deportation included criminal offenses such as theft, fraud, scams, and drug trafficking, as well as failure to provide adequate documentation, proof of financial capacity, or confirmed accommodation to immigration authorities.
According to the political claim of the PTI government, they created 5.5 million jobs in its first three years, and 3.22 million jobs were created during the years of Covid-19. The government of PML-N created 5.7million employment opportunities in five years of power (claim).
The survey, released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), shows that the country’s employed population increased from 64.03 million in 2018-19 to 67.25million in 2020-21, adding an average of 1.61 million people to the labour force each year. During the same period, unemployed individual rate declined by 200,000 from 4.71 million to 4.51 million.
Solutions to Pakistan’s Brain Drain
Pakistan is experiencing a skyrocketing wave of emigration, with millions, including highly skilled professionals.
This trend is creating a significant brain drain and putting economic and social pressure on families. To address this, the country needs to focus on economic reforms, job creation, competitive career opportunities, while investing in education skills, and technology, strengthening political stability, ensuring public safety, and engaging the diaspora through remittance incentives can also help retain talent and empower the youth to build their future within Pakistan.
Frequently Ask Questions
Why are Pakistani Youth is leaving Pakistan?
Youth is leaving Pakistan due to political instability, lack of quality education, collapsing economy and security concerns.
How many youth left Pakistan in 2025?
According to the latest report of the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment in 2025 approximately 763,526 people left Pakistan, and as of January 2026, 75,663 have already left Pakistan.
