The African Brain Drain’ is the title given to the considerable exodus of highly trained African professionals to other countries. Almost one in every four graduates immigrate, and in some African countries this number can reach one in every two. The result of this is a Brain Drain’ in which Africa’s best minds and most highly educated individuals leave the country to pursue lives and careers elsewhere in countries other than those within Africa herself.

There are two main reasons for this mass immigration.

Firstly, many countries in Africa are crippled economically by debt. While this is in part due to government resource mismanagement in some countries, in many countries this debt has been accumulated over a period of many years, creating an active (and in some cases almost insurmountable) barrier to economic growth, at least within the next decade. Given the economic problems and lack of funding to various businesses and organizations, the economic climate is unstable, and as such it is not surprising that Africa’s talented individuals elect to leave the continent to seek careers overseas.

The second problem stems directly from the unstable economic climate. While some countries have thriving economies (such as Botswana, which has achieved one of the fastest per capita income growth rates worldwide), the severe economic problems of many African countries has seen a rise in the poverty level and a fall in life expectancy. HIV and AIDS continue to play an important role in this. This is readily apparent when taking Botswana as an example again. While Botswana is classified as a middle income country with a GDP of $14,700 in 2007, it has nonetheless suffered from the scourge of HIV. The average life expectancy in 1990 was 64 years, while the average life expectancy in 2005 was 34 years, a telling statistic.

In addition, growing conflict in several African countries, and increasing violence in others has seen to it that the life expectancy has fallen even more significantly. In fact, the number of deaths due to violence in South Africa is greater than the number of several African countries currently in war.

Thus the main factors of the African Brain Drain can be isolated as a case of many African countries undergoing a period of economic stagnation and decline. This, coupled with an increased death rate due to violence and disease, as well as increasing poverty and political instability, has led to an exodus of Africa’s most highly talented and educated individuals away from Africa to seek careers and lives overseas.