About 825,000 Ghanaians, over 37% of doctors trained in Ghana live abroad

The number of Ghanaians living outside the country is said to be nearly 825,000 and over 37% of doctors trained in Ghana live and work abroad.

A publication of the World Bank titled Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011 which is the second edition of an initial volume issued in 2008 and relies on data publicly available from reliable sources says among the tertiary-educated population of Ghana, 47% are living outside the country as of the year 2000.

The book indicates that the top destination countries for emigration from Ghana are Nigeria, Côte d Ivoire, the United States, the United Kingdom, Burkina Faso, Italy, Togo, Germany, Canada, and Liberia.

It also says it is estimated that more than 1.85 million non-Ghanaians are living in Ghana in 2010, nearly 42% of whom are women.

The book estimates that nearly 22 million Sub-Saharan Africans have left the continent.

Africa also has a higher intra-regional migration rate than the rest of the developing world, with three out of four African migrants living in another country in Sub-Saharan Africa, it said.

The book says in general, islands and fragile or conflict-afflicted states have the highest rates of skilled emigrants.

Nationals who attended university and left their country the most are from Cape Verde (68 percent), Gambia (63 percent), Mauritius (56 percent), Seychelles (56 percent), Sierra Leone (53 percent), Ghana (47 percent), Mozambique (45 percent), Liberia (45 percent), Kenya (38 percent), and Uganda (36 percent).

Africa’s most dynamic migration corridors are Burkina Faso Côte d Ivoire (1.3 million migrants), Zimbabwe South Africa (0.9 million), and Côte d Ivoire Burkina Faso (0.8 million). Others include Uganda Kenya, Eritrea Sudan, Mozambique South Africa, Mali Côte d Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo Rwanda, Lesotho South Africa, and Eritrea Ethiopia, the book said.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi