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South Africa’s brain drain has been going on for decades.

Any member of the country’s middle-class will be able to tell you about someone they know who’s left for greener pastures.

For me, a large number of the people I graduated high school with almost 10 years ago have packed up and vamoosed. Part of me can’t think of why not, too.

A new survey, conducted by the Social Research Foundation (SRF), shows that at the moment, around half of South Africa’s top earners and university graduates are considering emigration as citizens lose faith in the country’s future.

Over to Bloomberg:

Out of 3,204 registered voters the Johannesburg-based research group surveyed in July, 53% of university graduates and 43% of those who earned more than R20,000 a month may leave the country, according to the findings.

Overall, 23% of those surveyed said they may look to live in another country.

Old story, new numbers.

Besides load shedding and corrupt political antics, the study also cites the lack of economic growth, which has failed to match the increase in population, resulting in the country’s citizens getting poorer.

Nobody wants to be on the losing end:

The number of those considering emigration “rises with social and economic status”, the SRF said in a statement accompanying the survey results on Thursday.

“People between the ages of 25 and 40 are the most likely age groups to be considering emigration,” according to the foundation. “The data is consistent with the foundation’s past findings on confidence in South Africa’s future.”

The loss of our youth is a multi-pronged problem.

Not only does it mean fewer skilled workers around, but it also means there are fewer people paying taxes.

This means less support for welfare payments that bolster a third of South Africans and other government services.

Ja, well, so the cycle continues…

[source:bloomberg]