Brain drain and capacity building in Africa (original) (raw)

2005, IDRC reports, Feb. 22, 2005

In 25 years, Africa will be empty of brains." That dire warning, from Dr Lalla Ben Barka of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), reflects the growing alarm over Africa's increasing exodus of human capital. Data on brain drain in Africa is scarce and inconsistent; however, statistics show a continent losing the very people it needs most for economic, social, scientific, and technological progress. The ECA estimates that between 1960 and 1989, some 127,000 highly qualified African professionals left the continent. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Africa has been losing 20,000 professionals each year since 1990. This trend has sparked claims that the continent is dying a slow death from brain drain, and belated recognition by the United Nations that "emigration of African professionals to the West is one of the greatest obstacles to Africa's development." [See box: Some Statistics on Africa's Brain Drain]

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