The brain drain is the phenomenon where educated people leave their country of origin in search of a better standard of living, career prospects, and more favorable economic and political conditions. It manifests as an exodus of educated people immigrating to industrialized Western countries. Brain drain typically occurs with individuals who have highly valued specialized skills, such as doctors, scientists, engineers, researchers, and professors. It deprives developing countries of brainpower as developed countries recruit and select the best minds and concentrate human capital among themselves.1 Human capital refers to a population's skills and expertise that are valuable to a country and its economy. The loss of human capital is especially pronounced for the African continent, where infrastructure, living, and working conditions aren’t hospitable enough for countries to retain their educated and skilled classes.2 This is a concern because the loss of this talent will further stymie economic and social development, compounding the problems of these developing nations. This article will focus mainly on the brain drain phenomenon in West Africa, its causes, its ramifications for specific sectors of society, and what can be done to combat the issue.
CAUSES OF THE BRAIN DRAIN
Figure 1. [A graphic of travelers representing migrants leaving their countries with Nigerian passports in the background]. (Photograph from National Economy, [A graphic of travelers representing migrants leaving their countries with Nigerian passports in the background], accessed on April 28, 2025, National Economy, https://nationaleconomy.com/mass-exodus-of-nigerian-professionals-whose-gain/).
So, what is driving Africans to leave the continent? Why are Western nations recruiting foreign professionals in the first place? Developed countries wish to recruit foreign workers to improve their knowledge economies, which refers to economies driven by ideas, innovation, and research & development.3 In a knowledge economy, economic growth is bolstered by those in knowledge-intensive occupations who do intellectual work, such as in the STEM disciplines. Those in highly specialized fields who possess this intellectual capital are very sought-after in developed countries. Higher-income and developed countries have deficits of their own in filling roles in skilled professions, like engineering, from their homegrown population. Thus, they utilize the power dynamic between them and lower and middle-income countries to their advantage to support their tech, healthcare, and R&D industries.4
Young and up-and-coming professionals on the continent are also eager to immigrate to the West to establish themselves. Africa has been termed the youngest continent in the world, as the average person on the continent is only nineteen.5 Many young people are motivated to leave their countries because they do not see a promising future ahead of them. With few jobs, struggling economies, and little opportunity, the younger generation is not inclined to remain in their countries of origin. According to the African Youth Survey 2024, 58% of young Africans said they were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to leave their countries within the next three years. More than 4 in 10 young people stated they would emigrate for better job opportunities.6
When researchers asked migrants their reasons for leaving, the majority cited working conditions, better wages, and the ability to make a decent living as their motivators. When questioned on the conditions that would make them likely to return home, migrants say they would like to “live in a political and social environment that allows freedom of expression and thought, and that would guarantee all citizens peace, security, and the exercise of democratic rights, and fights corruption, favoritism, and nepotism in all their forms.”7 These things, as well as the social challenges of reintegrating, inhibit migrants from returning home.8
Another factor motivating academics, in particular, to leave African countries is the lack of intellectual freedom and governmental backing for research. This compels African researchers, academics, and scientists to move to countries with more autonomy and support for their work.9 Corruption in government is also a push factor. Intellectuals are a threat to the malfeasance and fraud committed by the political elite in their respective African country since they have the knowledge and capacity to challenge the status quo. The intellectuals often leave because they disdain the corruption of their leaders. Many emigrants report their feelings are mixed between wanting to stay and improve their home and wanting to leave because they are losing confidence in their country’s leadership and future.10
IMPACT OF BRAIN DRAIN ON THE HEALTH SECTOR
Figure 2. Patients wait at Karanda Mission Hospital, north of Harare. More than 4,000 health workers left Zimbabwe in 2021 and 2022, the government says. (Photograph from Aaron Ufumeli, Patients wait at Karanda Mission Hospital, north of Harare. More than 4,000 health workers left Zimbabwe in 2021 and 2022, the government says, accessed April 28, 2025, EPA, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/aug/14/africa-health-worker-brain-drain-acc).
Focusing more on West Africa, the number of immigrants to the West from this region has tripled in the past three decades as struggling economies and the depreciation of currencies in several West African countries have made more and more people eager to leave.11
Unfortunately, many of these migrants leaving are in the health professions. In 2006, studies showed that 19% of doctors trained in Africa left for a Western country. This figure rose to 28% in Sub-Saharan Africa.12 Countries like Nigeria and Ghana are suffering from a severe dearth of doctors and nurses, as many have left the continent with no plans to return. Some $2 billion is lost because of brain drain while Western countries save hundreds of millions, if not billions, from receiving professionals trained abroad. According to the British Medical Group, “Host countries reap huge financial benefits by using the trained professionals from Africa: $384 million for Canada, $846 million for the United States, and $2 billion for Britain.”13 The UK is one prime location for West African emigrants, especially those in the health sector. For decades, the UK has actively sought out and recruited African doctors/nurses to work for the NHS (National Health Service), bolstering the healthcare system for Brits while depleting the workforce back on the continent.14 During the pandemic, from 2019-2022, Ghanaian nurses joining the UK’s NHS rose by 1,328%. Currently, there are more nurses of Ghanaian descent working in the UK than there are in Ghana numbers-wise.15
The brain drain’s effect on the healthcare system is especially pronounced in Nigeria. The WHO recommends that a country have a doctor-patient ratio of 1 doctor per 600 people for its health system to be able to provide adequate services to its population.16 Nigeria has an alarming ratio of 1 doctor per 4,000–5,000 people. For reference, that figure could be 1 doctor per 250 people in high-income countries.17 According to the WHO, 40 African countries, or roughly 80% of the continent, have significant health staffing shortages.18 There are predictions that Sub-Saharan Africa will be short 5.3 million healthcare workers by 2030.19 One disturbing figure from the British Medical Journal of Global Health says, “Sub-Saharan Africa has 25% of the global disease burden but only 3% of the world's healthcare workers.”20
For these reasons, policies must be engineered to keep healthcare professionals in their countries. This should include improving their working conditions and increasing their pay, but most countries in this region are not yet able to do so. In the long term, conditions must be improved to make it more attractive for workers to stay in their countries instead of emigrating. Africa’s health workers are in dire need of more investment. The health of the continent depends upon it.
CHALLENGES IMMIGRANTS FACE
It is important to touch upon the lives of the immigrants after they leave their home countries to provide a balanced perspective. Life in the West may not be smooth sailing for highly-skilled foreign workers upon arrival. Though skilled, they may face an array of challenges that prevent them from acquiring the jobs for which they are qualified. When a highly-educated person is overqualified for the job they do and does not utilize all of their skills in their work, this is termed “brain waste.” This may be because employers undervalue their prior education, they have difficulty getting their foreign credentials recognized, or due to xenophobia and bias in hiring, among other reasons.21
A significant minority of skilled immigrants are underemployed, exemplifying brain waste. In 2021, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) found that 1 in 3 highly skilled immigrants was underemployed. The Migration Policy Institute found that this group collectively lost out on $40 billion in income in 2016 due to their underemployment.22 Unfortunately, these immigrants are not advancing in their careers like they hoped to be when they moved to higher-income countries for job opportunities.
Brain waste occurs when immigrants struggle to integrate into their new countries due to barriers they face with entry into the labor market. One main barrier is credential recognition. Jobs in the health and STEM sectors often require professional licenses to perform, requiring immigrants to go before licensure bodies and credential evaluation organizations to obtain them or have their foreign credentials transferred. These are lengthy and complex processes.23 These licensing bodies may be biased against foreign credentials, believing that the quality of education earned abroad is not up to par with Western standards.24 This kind of thinking is profoundly ignorant but pervasive enough to prevent immigrants from entering the professions of their expertise. When their foreign degrees are not respected, immigrants may have to go to Western institutions for further education, which is redundant given the skills they already possess.25
Difficulties with cultural integration also impede immigrants’ upward mobility upon arrival and adversely affect their job prospects. They are attempting to enter communities and workplaces that may not be sensitive to their backgrounds and differences, such as their accents. Because cultural competence may be lacking, immigrants may not find acceptance, making it harder to integrate socially as well.26
An increase in immigration is often followed by an increase in resentment from some natives of that country. Countries like the US, UK, Canada, and France that receive many immigrants have pockets of the population that harbor anti-immigrant sentiment and inflame social tensions over the presence of foreigners. Nativists, or people who want to protect the interests of native-born inhabitants of a country before immigrants, believe foreigners are increasing their competition for work and “taking jobs” from them. These sentiments and anti-immigrant rhetoric contribute to the backlash against new arrivals and may influence employers’ decisions to hire them, decreasing their chances of finding work commensurate with their experience.27 Unfortunately, even though educated immigrants sought greener pastures by going abroad, some may not realize the fruits of their labor.
OTHER PERSPECTIVES
While external circumstances induce the migration of African professionals, their decisions to leave are their own. Therefore, it’s worthwhile to look at other angles and nuances of this phenomenon before painting broad strokes. One positive of this migration that researchers put forward is the potential return of developed professionals and the remittances (sums of money emigrants give back to their home countries, usually through money transfers) that can help improve the living standards of their families and communities. These remittances can also boost the economies back home. Many African nations account for much of their GDP from remittances.28
However, one Wilson Center report questioned this, asking, “Do the transfers (remittances) that migrants send home compensate for the shortfall that their departure inflicted on their country of origin that sacrificed enormously to ensure their training?”29 The answer to this question is less than certain. Remittances are not likely to fix the shortage of personnel and are only a band-aid for more complex economic issues. Remittances alone cannot prop up African economies successfully. It makes Africans dependent on money from family members abroad and other foreign aid.30
Unfortunately, remittances from the West are emblematic of the legacy of dependence posited by the dependency theory. This theory claims that a core group of developed, industrialized nations benefit from the resources of underdeveloped countries, making the latter dependent on the former and reducing their agency. In the case of the brain drain, wealthy countries extract the human resources of impoverished nations (educated people, labor force, etc.) instead of the typical natural resources (oil, minerals). This makes the countries losing workers dependent on foreign aid from NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to make up the difference.31 The crux of the matter is that low and middle-income nations would be better-positioned if their development was not hindered due to the brain drain, which is the result of global structures meant to benefit high-income countries at their expense. They are denied the ability to develop and be self-sufficient when the talent and personnel they need are exported abroad.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Figure 3. Members of the African Diaspora granted Ghanaian citizenship. (Photograph from Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Ghana's Year of Return wants people of African descent to return, accessed on April 28, 2025, Facebook, https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/29/africa/ghana-foreign-nationals-citizenship/index.html#:~:text=Europe-,Ghana%20makes%20126%20people%20from%20the%20diaspora%20citizens%20as%20part,president%20said%20in%20a%20statement).
Leading minds on the subject posit that countries would be able to remedy the harms of the brain drain if they implemented the right policies. Two types of solutions emerge: one that promotes return migration and one that engages emigrants in their home country’s development even while they are abroad.32 First, returnee programs would need to create attractive opportunities for emigrants to start businesses and work where they are needed. Secondly, groups could form networks for the diaspora (the dispersion of people from their original homeland) to collaborate with those back in their home countries.33 Last but not least, policies to halt brain drain could encourage brain circulation or the fluid movement of skilled workers between countries.34 After enhancing their skills abroad, professionals would return home and apply that knowledge to better their countries.
One recent example of a returnee program comes from Ghana in 2019. To mark the 400th anniversary of the slave trade, the Ghanaian government started an initiative called “The Year of Return” to encourage people in the African diaspora to return to Ghana, reflect on their heritage, and invest in the country. The initiative was a success and incentivized many Ghanaians working abroad to return. It also encouraged diasporans to visit for foreign exchange or to pursue dual citizenship.35 This shows that it doesn’t have to be one way or another: the West or Africa. Dual citizens can have interests in two countries and can work and contribute to the development of either state. African emigrants who retain citizenship from their home countries can still be stakeholders in the countries’ advancement.
These ideas suggest that brain drain doesn’t have to be permanent. Though there are no simple, definitive solutions, these suggestions could be ways to mitigate its effects. The brain drain is a structural problem resulting from inequalities decades in the making with no easy fixes. Therefore, its solutions are decades in the making as well.
CONCLUSION
In a globalized world, people across continents are vying for the same work and competing with one another for those jobs. Now, in the case of the brain drain, countries are effectively competing for workers. All countries need innovators with human capital to advance their economies, as human capital has immense value that can bolster a nation. Countries that get the “short end of the stick” and lose more and more of their workforce will be in danger of being left behind. Ultimately, any development efforts will require dedicated professionals to spearhead them.
This being said, it bears noting the imbalance of the current situation. Skilled workers are leaving Sub-Saharan Africa, where they are critically needed, to go to advanced Western nations that do not acknowledge the harm they perpetuate by actively recruiting professionals away from their home countries. There is no mutual exchange of professionals or brain circulation here. It’s only deprivation for African states. This is the twenty-first-century form of resource exploitation that has crippled the continent historically. Assertions that the departure of professionals from their countries of origin is an inevitable fact of life are dishonest when there are deep and entrenched inequities actively being propagated and exploited, and any notion of there being fair competition is unfounded. The globalization of human capital hasn’t benefited all people equitably. It’s been skewed in the favor of the West. This is no accident. The brain drain is a bane to the potential of the African continent, and it’s by design. Already, we can see the devastating consequences of the brain drain for this region of the world. Africans will be in an even more precarious situation if nothing is done to change the current state of affairs. The stability and longevity of the continent depend upon what happens next.
Works Cited
Akufo-Addo, Nana Addo Dankwa. Ghana's Year of Return wants people of African descent to return. Accessed on April 28, 2025. Photograph. Facebook. https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/29/africa/ghana-foreign-nationals-citizenship/index.html#:~:text=Europe-,Ghana%20makes%20126%20people%20from%20the%20diaspora%20citizens%20as%20part,president%20said%20in%20a%20statement.
Arnita, Cassie. “Barriers to Career Advancement Among Skilled Immigrants in the United States.” Ballard Brief, December 2022. https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/barriers-to-career-advancement-among-skilled-immigrants-in-the-us.
Batalova, Jeanee and Michael Fix. Tapping the Talents of High Skilled Immigrants in the United States: Takeaways from Experts Summit. Migration Policy Institute, 2018. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/Tapping%20the%20Talents-Summit_Summary%20Report-Final.pdf.
Dodani, Sunita and Ronald E. LaPorte. “Brain drain from developing countries: how can brain drain be converted into wisdom gain?” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 98, no. 11 (Nov 2005): 487–491. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1275994/#abstract1.
Firsing, Scott. “Africa’s migration and brain drain revisited,” London School of Economics Blogs, March 19, 2024, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2024/03/19/africas-migration-and-brain-drain-revisited/#:~:text=Regional%20economic%20hubs%20like%20South%20Africa%2C%20Nigeria,France%2C%20the%20UK%2C%20the%20US%2C%20or%20Canada.
Ichikowitz Family Foundation. African Youth Survey 2024: A Turning Point for African Youth. 2024. https://ichikowitzfoundation.com/storage/reports/September2024/GSLcmLTnruHzhTrIuDOV.pdf
Jalloh, Mohamed Bella, Amrit Virk, Ini Dele-Adedeji, and Bassey Ebenso. “How to Stop West Africa’s Brain Drain.” Think Global Health, November 20, 2023. https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/how-stop-west-africas-brain-drain?_gl=1*m2slju*_gcl_au*NDA3MjgyMzQuMTczOTQxMjA4Mg..*_ga*MTQwMzE0ODAxNy4xNzMxMzYzODIz*_ga_24W5E70YKH*MTc0MjM0MDMwNC41NC4xLjE3NDIzNDA2NjYuNjAuMC4w*_ga_N9V4J2JY26*MTc0MjM0MDMwNC40OS4xLjE3NDIzNDA2NjYuNjAuMC4w.
Kasper, Jennifer, and Francis Bajunirwe. “Brain drain in sub-Saharan Africa: contributing factors, potential remedies and the role of academic medical centres.” Archives of Disease in Childhood 97, no. 11 (September 2012): 973-979. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2012-301900.
Kreimer, Lee. “Highly Skilled Immigrants Face a Changing Landscape for Credential Recognition.” Migration Policy Institute, November 14, 2024. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/credential-recognition-trends#:~:text=But%20factors%20including%20undervaluing%20of,Costa%20Rica%20(56%20percent).
Lututala, Bernard Mumpasi. Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions/ Wilson Center, 2012. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/CODESRIA.pdf.
Mills, Edward J, Steve Kanters, Amy Hagopian et al. “The financial cost of doctors emigrating from sub-Saharan Africa: human capital analysis.” British Medical Journal. 343 (2011): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d7031.
National Economy. [A graphic of travelers representing migrants leaving their countries with Nigerian passports in the background]. Accessed on April 28, 2025. Photograph. National Economy. https://nationaleconomy.com/mass-exodus-of-nigerian-professionals-whose-gain/.
Onah, Cosmas Kenan, Benedict Ndubueze Azuogu, Casmir Ndubuisi Ochie, et al. “Physician emigration from Nigeria and the associated factors: the implications to safeguarding the Nigeria health system.” Human Resources for Health 20, no. 85 (Dec 2022): 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-022-00788-z.
Rapoport, Hillel. “Who is afraid of the brain drain? Human capital flight and growth in developing countries.” Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. April 2002 https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/policy-brief/who-afraid-brain-drain-human-capital-flight-and-growth-developing.
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Tetteh, Benjamin. “Beyond the Year of Return: Africa and the diaspora must forge closer ties.” United Nations | Africa Renewal, September 20, 2020. https://africarenewal.un.org/en/magazine/beyond-year-return-africa-and-diaspora-must-forge-closer-ties.
Ufumeli, Aaron. Patients wait at Karanda Mission Hospital, north of Harare. More than 4,000 health workers left Zimbabwe in 2021 and 2022, the government says. Accessed on April 28, 2025. Photograph. EPA. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/aug/14/africa-health-worker-brain-drain-acc.
World Health Organization. “WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023.” Geneva: World Health Organization, 2023. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/366398/9789240069787-eng.pdf?sequence=1.
Gabrielle Sierra, “Can West Africa Curb Its Brain Drain,” Council on Foreign Relations, June 20, 2024, https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/can-west-africa-curb-its-brain-drain.
Bernard Mumpasi Lututala, Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions, (Wilson Center, 2012), 9. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/CODESRIA.pdf.
Lututala, Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions, 4.
Sunita Dodaniand Ronald E. LaPorte, “Brain drain from developing countries: how can brain drain be converted into wisdom gain?” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 98, no. 11 (Nov 2005): 488. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1275994/#abstract1.
Sierra, “Can West Africa Curb Its Brain Drain.”
African Youth Survey 2024: A Turning Point for African Youth, (Ichikowitz Family Foundation, 2024), 70. https://ichikowitzfoundation.com/storage/reports/September2024/GSLcmLTnruHzhTrIuDOV.pdf.
Lututala, Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions, 9.
Lututala, Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions, 16.
Lututala, Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions, 10.
Ibid.
Sierra, “Can West Africa Curb Its Brain Drain.”
Lututala, Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions, 6.
Edward J. Mills et al. “The financial cost of doctors emigrating from sub-Saharan Africa: human capital analysis,” British Medical Journal 343 (2011): 2. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d7031.
Mohamed Bella Jalloh et al. “How to Stop West Africa’s Brain Drain,” Think Global Health, November 20, 2023, https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/how-stop-west-africas-brain-drain?_gl=1*m2slju*_gcl_au*NDA3MjgyMzQuMTczOTQxMjA4Mg..*_ga*MTQwMzE0ODAxNy4xNzMxMzYzODIz*_ga_24W5E70YKH*MTc0MjM0MDMwNC41NC4xLjE3NDIzNDA2NjYuNjAuMC4w*_ga_N9V4J2JY26*MTc0MjM0MDMwNC40OS4xLjE3NDIzNDA2NjYuNjAuMC4w.
Scott Firsing, “Africa’s migration and brain drain revisited,” London School of Economics Blogs, March 19, 2024, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2024/03/19/africas-migration-and-brain-drain-revisited/#:~:text=Regional%20economic%20hubs%20like%20South%20Africa%2C%20Nigeria,France%2C%20the%20UK%2C%20the%20US%2C%20or%20Canada.
Cosmas Kenan Onah, “Physician emigration from Nigeria and the associated factors: the implications to safeguarding the Nigeria health system,” Human Resources for Health 20, no. 85 (Dec 2022): 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-022-00788-z.
Sierra, “Can West Africa Curb Its Brain Drain.”
“WHO health workforce support and safeguards list: 2023,” (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2023), 4. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/366398/9789240069787-eng.pdf?sequence=1.
Firsing, “Africa’s migration and brain drain revisited.”
Jennifer Kasper and Francis Bajunirwe, “Brain drain in sub-Saharan Africa: contributing factors, potential remedies and the role of academic medical centres,” Archives of Disease in Childhood 97, no. 11 (September 2012): 973. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2012-301900.
Lee Kreimer, “Highly Skilled Immigrants Face a Changing Landscape for Credential Recognition,” Migration Policy Institute, November 14, 2024, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/credential-recognition-trends#:~:text=But%20factors%20including%20undervaluing%20of,Costa%20Rica%20(56%20percent).
Ibid.
Cassie Arnita, “Barriers to Career Advancement Among Skilled Immigrants in the United States,” Ballard Brief, December 2022, https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/barriers-to-career-advancement-among-skilled-immigrants-in-the-us.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Jeanee Batalova and Michael Fix, Tapping the Talents of High Skilled Immigrants in the United States: Takeaways from Experts Summit, (Migration Policy Institute, 2018), 9-10. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/Tapping%20the%20Talents-Summit_Summary%20Report-Final.pdf.
Lututala, Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions, 16.
Lututala, Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions, 9.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Lututala, Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions, 15.
Lututala, Brain Drain in Africa: State of the Issue and Possible Solutions, 17.
Dodani and LaPorte, “Brain drain from developing countries,” 489.
Benjamin Tetteh, “Beyond the Year of Return: Africa and the diaspora must forge closer ties,” United Nations | Africa Renewal, September 20, 2020, https://africarenewal.un.org/en/magazine/beyond-year-return-africa-and-diaspora-must-forge-closer-ties.