Hamza Khan moved to the US from Lahore three years ago to pursue higher education at Arizona State University, a school ranked 200th on the QS rankings this year. Now, the 21-year-old has chosen a major, and decided that returning to Pakistan is not on the table.
“There is better opportunity here, job security, (and) a fair system,” he said.
Harsh words, but true for the most part.
Apart from the obvious, Hamza also says career options are limited in Pakistan.
“I won’t really have a career in biological sciences back home. Political and economic issues also make it hard to create a good life.”
Ah, the good life. Hamza isn’t alone to have these thoughts.
An increasing number of Pakistanis looking to pursue education in the west are also looking at making their studies a one-way ticket out of the country.
Hamza Ifthikar, a 22-year-old alumnus of the University College London, is one of 23,000 Pakistani students who studied in the UK last year.
“In Pakistan, foreign education is often seen to have a higher value, regardless of whether or not that has any academic basis,” Ifthikar said.
“It is almost a status thing.”
Students like Ifthikar often don’t move back home, choosing instead to pursue careers in the US, UK and Australia. He attributes this decision to factors such as the “uncontrollable” political and economic situation in Pakistan.
The trend has only cemented the idea that Pakistan is not doing enough to cater to its youth – both in terms of offering opportunities to enhance skills and utilising skills for the country’s development.
Nearly two-thirds of Pakistan’s population consists of people under the age of 30, like Khan, according to a 2018 United Nations report, putting the number at over 150 million.
In less than three decades, the number is expected to double. Yet, there is a feeling of anxiety and dejection in Pakistan’s young population.
So what is driving Pakistan’s youth away?
Pakistanis comprise 2.7% of the UK’s population, making them the second-largest ethnic minority in the country, according to the 2021 Census. But does this number highlight a desire to live abroad or point towards a larger crisis unfolding within Pakistan’s economy?
“It is hopelessness,” said Ifthikar. “For many people, this has been a decisive factor.”
Pakistan celebrated its 78th Independence Day on August 14, but the overall sentiment has been negative in the country. High electricity tariffs have resulted in widescale protests, and energy load-shedding is a common theme. Inflation has only recently started to recede, but even Pakistan’s central bank feels it is too early to start cutting rates. Bailouts with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are as common as changes in government, and just recently, there were reports of internet disruptions. It took the Pakistan government a few days to react, and all it said was that it wasn’t behind the internet slowdown.
In such an environment, businesses are shy, and holding back from committing too much. This is being reflected in the job market.
Saashah Chughtai, a Pakistani banker based in the Middle East, echoed the view. Chughtai was born in Karachi, and first moved to Egypt in 2004. He has since lived in the UAE and Bahrain.
He said the reason students are increasingly deciding to stay abroad is due to a more developed market that offers them higher roles within an institution.
“After they’ve reached a certain stage abroad, there are no opportunities for them to move back to, unless they’re moving to a much lower role,” Chughtai said.
“There’s a loss of confidence in Pakistan’s economy.”
The United Nations, in a recent report, stated that Pakistan saw an outflow of 1.6 million people in 2023, highest since 2016. The most recent Open Doors Report on International Education also saw a 16% increase in the number of Pakistani students who pursued higher education in the U.S. last year. This report found that over 10,000 Pakistanis studied in the U.S. between 2022 and 2023.
These are staggering figures, especially since Pakistan’s GDP per capita and a huge population that lives below the poverty line mean that there aren’t a lot of individuals who can afford to pursue education in the west.
But grass is not all the green on the west’s side either.
Young adults still feel as though the benefits of leaving Pakistan outweigh the cost of facing potential racism and hate crimes
While the US does seemingly offer opportunities, the socio-political climate presents its own set of challenges.
A greater number of Pakistan are also feeling uncertain about their safety in a time of polarisation, hostility, and xenophobia that has been rampant recently.
Also read: Perspectives: Ivy Leagues, so-called ‘anti-semitism’ and the US
Many have raised concerns about how political and social dynamics influence academic freedoms and personal expressions of minority students, especially those who are Muslim. In April, Muslim South-Asian American University of Southern California valedictorian Asna Tabassum had her speech revoked after containing a link to a slideshow calling for “Palestinian Liberation.”
The US also experienced a 56% increase in Islamophobic incidents in 2023, far surpassing the number of anti-Muslim bias incidents reported in the aftermath of 9/11, according to a CAIR report. This drastic rise in hate crimes has potentially contributed to the anxiety felt by Muslim university students across the country.
But this is still nothing new.
Growing up in Kansas, 24-year-old Pakistani-American student Raahim Sheikh witnessed first-hand the extent of racial prejudice in his primarily conservative surroundings.
“I definitely stuck out more,” he said. “Not a lot of people looked like me so I was kind of just an easy target.”
When asked how the racial remarks he faces at work affect him, Sheikh said, “I have come to just be unfazed by it.”
Despite these threats and a general sentiment stemming from recent geopolitical events, students across Pakistan are still opting to stay in the US in the hopes of starting a new life.
Young adults still feel as though the benefits of leaving Pakistan outweigh the cost of facing potential racism and hate crimes.
This begs the question of whether these students are merely seeking a new opportunity, or if there is a deeper quest for a lifestyle that Pakistan is not providing them.
Eighteen-year-old Ibrahim Yousuf has also been swayed away from the idea of pursuing a career in Pakistan after he graduates from the University of Michigan.
“The standard of living is dropping (in Pakistan),” he said. Yousef and other students have also noticed “higher prices of basic necessities” such as fuel, water, and electricity.
One cannot blame these students who have the opportunity to pursue studies in more developed nations.
But spare a thought for those who don’t.
As Pakistan moves from one crisis to another, it is the education budget that sees the knives on it.
A 2019 WENR report found a low participation rate at Pakistani universities, with the country seeing a tertiary gross enrollment ratio of only 9%. This is attributed primarily to insufficient funding.
Pakistan’s own Economic Survey 2023-24 shows the country’s literacy rate (10 years and above) at an appalling 52% for females and 73.4% for males. Out of school children are nearly a third, and cumulative education expenditures (by the centre and provinces) in 2022-23 was at a paltry 1.5% of GDP. This number used to be 2.1% of GDP in 2017-18.
By comparison, international students contributed over $40 billion to the US economy between 2022 and 2023, according to a NAFSA report, and this says a lot about how a country attracts foreign exchange inflow just through one sector.
In Pakistan, the fear is real. All business associations, professionals, and the media have raised concerns on the outflow of talent.
Imposition of further taxes on salaried group to ‘accelerate brain drain’ in Pakistan: PBC
“Brain drain is the word that everyone seems to be using,” Chugthai said.
“The US benefits from the fact that they get to hire the best people from around the world, including Pakistan– who work hard and are smart– and leverage off that.”
In terms of jobs, about 140,000 U.S. employment-based immigrant visas are made available to “qualified applicants” per fiscal year, according to the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Pakistan.
As one goes deeper in trying to understand the different pull- and push-factors leading Pakistanis to move out of the country, one cannot help but also wonder what the future could look like.
It also raises the questions if the government is turning a blind eye or is actually pleased at the brain-drain.
A former minister is quoted on record as saying that people moving out of the country actually contributes to remittances.
“Brain drain can become a brain asset [in future] and this is a sanguine and positive way to perceive it…” the minister was quoted as saying.
Either way, Pakistan is suffering from a lack of opportunities.
Eman Sultan, a 22-year-old American University alumna, said she wants to stay in the US to “build a career”.
“You learn to be more independent. You learn to get yourself out of tough situations,” she said, reflecting on her time away from home.
“Adapting is definitely something that you have to do to be able to stay connected.” But even as one adapts, there is a sense of identity.
“I came into college feeling very comfortable in my shoes and knowing who I was.”
But while the expats did celebrate Pakistan’s Independence Day, back home, Pakistanis are losing a sense of belonging.
The article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Business Recorder or its owners
The writer is a multimedia journalist based in Los Angeles
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