DETERMINANTS OF YOUTH EMIGRATION: A CASE STUDY OF KARACHI (An Overview of emigration from 2010 to 2016)

Abstract

In the last six years, more than 3.7 million people have migrated from Pakistan to seek employment, mostly in the Middle East. Approximately, 1 million people migrated from Pakistan in 2015 in contrast to 0.75 million in 2014, an increase of about 20.84%. People from all the cities of Pakistan are migrating, especially from Karachi, which is the seventh most populous city of the world and largest in Pakistan. More than 30% of Karachi’s population is youth (ages 15 –29) with 54.9% male and 45.1% female. This study finds that 48.7% of the youth in Karachi want to leave Pakistan for various reasons, including unemployment, insecurity, economic problems, lack of social support, lack of career opportunities. This high rate of outward migration from Pakistan is creating brain drain conditions, especially in the health and education sectors, where there is a shortage of skilled workforce. This paper explores and analyzes factors that are contributing to youth emigration from Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi.