The Tragic Reality of Brain Drain on Poor Countries | Economics Explained

The phenomenon of brain drain is when the best and brightest workers from poor countries immigrate to rich countries in the pursuit of higher pay and living conditions. This can hinder the development of poor countries because many of their best workers leave.

0:00 - 2:12 Intro
2:13 - 3:32 Course Careers
3:33 - 4:30 Advanced economies
4:31 - 6:35 What is brain drain
6:36 - 8:00 Demographics
8:01 - 9:20 Benefit to rich countries
9:21 - 12:16 Education
12:17 Solutions

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[ShihammeDarc]

I live in Bangladesh, once I saw a online post saying "The great Bangladeshi dream is to leave Bangladesh" and I 100% agree. There is no way I want to spend my life stuck here.

[switzerland]

I have the perfect example of brain drain, also in developed countries. Switzerland doesn't educate enough healthcare staff and doctors. German staff comes to Switzerland to fix it. Germany is lacking doctors now, polish people go and fix it. Poland lacks now doctors, which Ukrainians go and fix. Ukraine is the end of this line, except maybe Moldova. The numbers really match up greatly, and all because Switzerland is not keeping up with the population growth.

[banban]

Indonesia is weird, 20 years ago the dream is to go outside the country. But now lot of young people go to other countries learn from them and go back and improve Indonesia. I ask my friend who have the opportunity to study in Japan for 12 years until he finish his PhD. And he said "I can't help it, I love my country and want to improve it". Not all people have the same kind of mindset tho, still a lot of people choose to live outside. But the extremely educated actually go back and improve Indonesia.

[freakyfishy]

Brain drain also happens inside Europe : I live in France and the "brightest" go to work in Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland (if they don't leave for the UK or Québec)
France in turn receives all the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian engineers (plus a lot more from Africa)

[XeratolPlays]

I'm from the Philippines, a Developing Country, and I'm part of that Brain Drain. I came from the top university of my country and wanted to give back since I was a scholar and my education was paid for by the tax payers. I had the opportunity to study in the US and even at the big tech companies like Microsoft and Autodesk. My biggest reason for not wanting to come back home is culture. Work culture in the tech industry is about growth. Sure, there are a lot of lay offs but you grow in every opportunity you land on. Back in the Ph, work is about personalities and culture. The quality of your work is based on who your friends are and which surname you have - your results can be ignored if you belong to the right family.

[nebakos]

Brain drain is a massive issue in Greece as well.
In Greece all universities are free, so people earn their degrees with an investment made by the government and then end up leaving Greece to work in other countries, hence the government getting nil ROI, and losing well educated, productive individuals. This affects the economy not only by losing someone who would pay tax, but also by losing someone who could contribute to inovation, change and progress.
I myself am an example of the above, educated in Greece and moved to the UK for a better life and career advancement.

[_Bruno_Cesar_]

As a statistics student in Brazil, i see this in our daily life. My university is insanely good, people who manage to graduate here usually become excelent statisticians. The problem is, every year 120 students enter the university while only 16 graduate, not many.

From the few people that manage to graduate, a large portion go to work abroad. Thats not only a loss of brains, my university is public, completely free, the government is losing money. I myself also plan to work abroad, but i would love to come back to Brazil. I really like living here.

But brain drain isnt even the biggest problem. The biggest problem is the amount of drop outs, its a bigger internal brain drain, loss of hours of studies and lectures. It often happens because people have to work and cant manage to spend time on university. The government actually pay people to only study, pay their transport, pay for their food, but not many people get this "help" because we lack funding.

I'm actually optimistic about this situation. We have a clear sight of a problem and i can see a lot of people working on it, i know who to give support. I'm actually thinking about doing studies on this issue on the future.

[zodiacfml]

Even as a grade school student in a Philippines in the 80s, brain drain is taught or is a topic in our school. Almost 40 years now, brain drain is just as bad or maybe worse. Little is happening in our country except services like BPO, tourism, entertainment, remittances. There is little manufacturing or engineering despite the cheap workforce that is cheaper than China. It's all good if you have the money to spend here. otherwise, you are at the bottom of the food chain with little growth and high risks.

[someguycalledcerberus]

Interesting note on the brain drain: it is happening _within_ countries as well, as rural regions go extinct and cities bloat to unmanageable sizes, with pollution, constant traffic jams and unaffordable housing.

[qwepoi]

Same thing has been happening inside countries as well, take Japan for example. Rural areas carry the costs* of raising children, but the best and brightest leave for cities like Tokyo where they can earn much more. And Tokyo then reaps the benefits of taxing those top earners, whereas the rural cities have to make more and more cuts, feeding this vicious cycle.
To counter this trend, Japan has introduced the "hometown tax" program that gives taxpayers the choice to direct part of their tax to other regions. As a thank you and further enticement, generally a gift from that region (often local produce) is returned.
(*Core healthcare and basic schooling are nationally funded, so that's good)

[brendancredence]

This just perfectly explained the problem Nigeria is facing. Over 500, 000 Nigerians left Nigeria in 2022 in search for a better life in the us, UK and Canada. These people are the brains that could actually boost Nigeria's economy but due to problems they left and now they'll help develop those other countries instead

[IdidntReddit]

This video was nuts. It's 110% accurate. Every last word! I've literally just immigrated to Canada from South Africa on a student visa.. Because of crime and corruption basically... I believe for alot of people born in 3rd world countries. You don't want to leave but you feel forced into it. That said India by far seems to have the biggest brain drain maybe because of their population size but try go 5min in Toronto, London or Sydney and not find an Indian born in India. I am surprised by this because India's economy is on the rise.

[talideon]

One thing though: once a country is subject to a brain drain, it can become difficult, even if that country becomes a developed economy, to get rid of the thinking it engenders, and it can end up being used as an economic pressure valve in the worst possible ways. Ireland is an example of this, where the government's lack of desire to deal with housing costs has lead to a brain drain amongst younger people to places where housing is more affordable, and this has been practically *encouraged*. It's a deeply toxic cycle.

[chrisf]

Yep, I'm definitely one of those brains who left for a better life. Born in a beautiful country in the centre of Africa then raised in Mali (West Africa). Daughter of a school teacher and an electrician, got to university at 16 years old and got 1 bachelor’s degree in plant biology (Algeria) and 2 masters in biotechnology and agroresource production (France) at the age of 23. I went back to my country right after I graduated but I couldn’t get a job worthy of the name. With a country plagued by coup d'état, bad governance, widespread corruption and terrorism, there was virtually no prospect of employment. So I applied for jobs in France and in less than 2 weeks, I had a job offer for an engineering position with a 4-year renewable residence card. And as an African, it saddens me to see many African countries suffer this brain drain and all because of poor governance. But fortunately, things are changing and many of us are going back to the continent to start businesses and make things happen. I’m going to start my own company in two years. So there’s still hope.

[lukashenrique]

I'm from Brasil, a developing country that's getting worse each year, we just barely keep up with inflation and as said in the video, it does have a huge amount of corruption and crime. for these reasons I'm planning to move out, what's missing for me is finishing my graduation and having 2 years of experience in my field of expertise (I.T), then I'm out of here. Brasil is no joke, going out afraid of getting robbed every time is a feeling we get used to.

[rommelmoh]

I was educated as a civil engineer in Australia and came back to my country. I got many good offers to join both local and foreign companies with good salary. But after the coup and civil war, all has changed negatively. Had to resign from well paid job. Now working as a teacher with salary lower than $200 per month. But thanks God, Australia gov invited me to become a permanent resident of their country.I really thanks them from the bottom of my heart

[beback_]

My home country of Iran has one of the worst brain drain problems in the world. But to stop it the government has to resort to extreme measures such as not murdering people over showing a bit of hair, which they seem unwilling to do.

[xiphoid]

As a Chinese American, I whole heartely agree. My parents, my wife and I are all came to the US to study and graduated with doctoral degrees. With better higher education, 10x income, greater personal freedom, millions of of the most tallented Chinese students immigrated. Of course, with the higher income and wealth accumulation, we also paid much more taxes than the average american families. It was good for our families, and it was good for the US who tooks us in when we had nothing but the cloths on our backs.

[KruskDerTank]

I have spent years teaching at a research university in Vietnam, and I have observed that young Vietnamese students whose parents can afford to send them abroad or who receive scholarships rarely return. This is partly due to issues with work culture, ethics, and pay. Many can earn higher salaries in their field abroad than they can by working in Vietnam. Additionally, Vietnam still faces the problem of "Con ong chau cha, " which translates to "the children of officials/ministries." This refers to individuals who have connections or are relatives of influential people and receive preferential treatment over those who do not have such connections. While this is not the sole reason for the brain drain, it is a contributing factor. Please feel free to correct me if I am mistaken, as I am open to learning more on the topic.

[greenscreenman]

I always wondering why Indonesia dont have such "culture" to go work or study overseas just like our neighbouring countries like the Philippines, Malaysia or Vietnam, besides being the fourth populated country which caused the Indonesian sphere in the west feel very dim.

But, this video provides information which work as a salve for me. Our students who study overseas, mostly, do want to come back to Indonesia and Indonesians are mostly reluctant to go overseas. My parents got offered to work in Australia back in the late 90s but simply refused it. My highschool classmate also got accepted in International Undergraduate Program for Tech Major in Australia but simply refused the acceptance when he got accepted in one of Tech Institute in Indonesia.