By Zulfiqar Ahmad
Copyright brecorder
ISLAMABAD: As economic anxieties deepen and job prospects shrink, nearly 2.9 million Pakistanis have sought livelihoods abroad in the past three years, official data from the Protectorate of Emigrants revealed on Wednesday.
Between 2022 and September 15, 2025, a total of 2,894,645 individuals left the country. During the same period, they paid a combined Rs2.66 billion in emigration-related fees.
The departures span both highly qualified professionals – including doctors, engineers, IT specialists, teachers, architects, designers, bankers, and auditors – and skilled workers such as plumbers, drivers, and welders. A growing number of women are also part of this outbound wave, suggesting a broader demographic shift.
According to the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment, Punjab has accounted for the highest number of emigrants since 1981, with 7.24 million departures. It is followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (3.57 million), Sindh (1.28 million), and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (813,526).
At the lower end, Gilgit-Baltistan saw only 30,776 departures, while Balochistan registered just 23,013. In total, 13.88 million Pakistanis have left the country over the past four decades.
A joint report by the Danish Foreign Ministry and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) finds that four in ten Pakistanis would opt to leave the country if given the opportunity – reflecting rising public disillusionment amid economic and political uncertainty.
The report also points to a sharp increase in irregular migration, noting a 280 per cent surge in illegal entries to Europe during the first ten months of 2022.
By the end of 2023, nearly 8,800 Pakistanis had entered the continent illegally, often via high-risk routes through Dubai, Egypt, and Libya.
Emigration interest is particularly high in urban centres across Balochistan, AJK, and Gilgit-Baltistan, where youth face limited access to employment and education.
The ongoing exodus is being fuelled by a combination of economic hardship, political instability, high inflation, unemployment, limited educational opportunities, and security concerns – a cocktail of pressures pushing more Pakistanis to seek futures abroad.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
