Why do Pakistanis want to leave their country?

To understand the reasons, we first need to understand the accelerating crisis in Pakistan. A big number of people are trying to leave Pakistan as economic conditions worsen day by day. The country is drowning in debts.

According to the Business Recorder, Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities have soared to 130.179 billion dollars in May 2024 and total public debt at the end of Mar 2024 was 67.525 trillion rupees. Plus Consultant, a research organization, says that 74 percent of Pakistanis cannot meet their expenditures.

Economic stability comes with political stability. The country is facing political instability from inside and outside its borders. There is no political consensus on defining national interest and political rivalry creates more chaos.

The impact of this situation can be seen in different social entities. Worst kind of intolerance is being observed in the society. An alarming situation for rapidly growing population and very limited opportunities. Conclusively, multiple factors linked to the economic and political instability in Pakistan are being observed the middle class. They try to find ways to avail opportunities available in the global market.

According to Bureau of Immigration and Overseas Employment, 13.65 million skilled and educated people were working abroad till June 2024. Among those, 78185 are accountants, 36731 doctors, 10932 engineers, and 23027 teachers. 13 million of them went to Gulf countries. These are the registered number of employees. Remittances data shows that in the FY23, total remittances were 2187.1 million US dollars which increased to 3158.3 million US dollars in the FY24.

This year, more than 700,000 people already left Pakistan for a better future. This number was 862625 and 832339 in the years 2023 and 2022 respectively. However, politicians consider overseas Pakistanis as an asset as they contribute a lot in the economy of Pakistan.