Brain Drain: How the System Favours the Powerful and Exploits the Weak
If your world doesn’t allow you to dream, move to one where you can. According to a report submitted by the Minister for Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development 18 lac 75 thousand people left Pakistan in the last three years. The number for highly educated persons crossed 45 thousand in 2024 whereas 15 thousand 850 educated citizens left the state in 2026 till now.
The question arises why brain drain is increasing day by day and seems as the only possible solution in order to enhance living standards?
Class system, merit violation and inequalities in available opportunities and systemic priorities serve as a reason why youth tend to leave the state as the system favours the powerful and exploits the weak. If we examine ground reality, thousands of students graduate each year from our country’s higher education institutions but unfortunately due to the fact graduation rate doesn’t contrast with available job opportunities, are unable to find a living for themselves. In such situation where massive youth, already trapped in crisis in a country which is home to 48% of the poor in MENAAP region as per World Bank’s report published in 2026, a state which scored highest in 2026 Global Hunger Index in South Asian Region find brain drain as the only hope.
Pakistan is home to diverse cultures, languages and ethnicities, the class system here is not based on a caste system but on economic circumstances. The population is divided into upper, middle, lower, upper-middle and lower-middle class. These economic barriers not only serve as a tool to segregate the population but also are a gateway to exploit the weak, where an individual belonging to a lower class will tend to take any job sacrificing ambition, professional capability and field of interest even if it doesn’t cover monthly expenses while being in search of a part time job to meet up living cost, just to fit himself in a social job holder category. In 2021 over 60% workers were unable to receive minimum wage. In 2023, 48% worked below minimum wage. The national minimum wage was raised to 40,700 in 2026-27 budget but according to several independent surveys and economic data a large number of workers still earn below the official minimum wage.
State priorities define state intentions as well, where brain drain is increasing day by day, state’s lawmakers prioritized their own privileges. The Senate approved a bill to provide lifetime government passports to former members of parliament. The Passport Act 1974 was amended aiming to provide former members of parliament with equal privileges to other high-ranking government officials. Alongside such amendments another big crisis which youth is addressing is violation of merit. In February 2019 FIA arrested three individuals including two officers of Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) for their alleged involvement in leaking question papers of the Central Superior Services (CSS) examination. Later during the proceedings FIA tracked a transaction of Rs. 980,000 sent to one of suspects bank account. Investigators found that Khalid Hussain Mugheri (FPSC Balochistan Assistant Director) sent exam papers via WhatsApp to Syed Tajjamul Hussain Naqvi (Excise and Taxation Officer) shortly before the tests began. He sold them to a large number of candidates for large sums of money, defining how inequalities exist in Pakistan’s government sector as well.
Distances have shrunk between nations worldwide due to advancements in technology, travel and globalization; prestige and sense of equality also serve as a consistent reality why a person earning less in homeland will tend to move abroad after viewing a higher earning rate for the same skill, effort in same amount of time in a foreign land.
So, in a state where the weak get exploited, suffer with below minimum wage, frustration from injustice, abuses and rising inflation “brain drain” can be justified.
About Author
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Journalist & Researcher
International Relations Undergraduate | Scriptwriter | Poet
Dedicated to investigative journalism, political research, and creative storytelling through script and verse.
