South Africa’s Brain Drain Positioned to Benefit New Zealand and Australia in 2022 and beyond

The brain drain from South Africa has transformed the economies and societies of New Zealand and Australia over the last 4 decades. South Africa has given our part of the world some of the most talented professionals in their country. Industry leaders representing all trades, engineering, teaching, health, ITC, manufacturing, logistics, goods and services of all kinds. The people coming are the bedrock of society. They have helped build and maintain cities, towns, industries and services, private and public. By this time, I would guess that every professionally skilled person in South Africa has seen family, friends and colleagues leave for a better life abroad. One of their favourite destinations is little New Zealand..

A 2013 census showed 54,279 South African-born people resident in New Zealand, or 1.36% of our population, 5th highest after UK, China, India, and Australia. 2013 was a long time ago, and the flow has been high the whole time (except for the lockdown years), and the flow will continue, I’m sure because there continues to be great interest on both sides. Australia has larger numbers but reflects a smaller percentage share of talent growth.

Brain drains reflect a shift of production capacity and social stability away from one place to the benefit of somewhere else. In stable countries, most of these people would not relocate. It takes generations to develop a class of people that keep the fabric of society held together. New Zealand has benefited much from this group. Those who benefit the most from South Africa are in several categories, but I will name just two that I am most familiar with: 1) Top income professionals could live anywhere in the world and their top choice is often New Zealand or Australia and 2) Proven talent that finds life at home to be more struggle than success both financially and socially.

Regarding the top income performers – They find what they are looking for in New Zealand when they have security, stability, happier family time, regular contact with nature and a work-life balance. Top performers often talk about their quality of life for themselves and their children as their main reason fro choosing this region of the world. This group needs to be connected with decision makers that understand their value and can make use of their skills. This process often begins with making complex profiles clearly understandable and then plugging them into either a career growth direction or a lifestyle direction or some combination of both.

About proven talent – They find economic growth and opportunity plus all of the things listed above as well. This category often has to “put everything on the line” to make this dream come true, and when it does, they can experience the most positive change to their life experience and for their future growth opportunities. For this group life can instantly improve on all fronts from day 01 and go up from there, but the risks are higher to get from point A to the new life here. This group needs the most planning and risk management support and the confidence that their hard earned immigration investments will bring the success they are looking to achieve.

A recent article this week that published, “[A]round 8% of people are selling their homes with plans to leave the country. Notably, the data shows that wealthier South Africans – even those in upper-middle-income brackets – are more likely to sell up to emigrate.” – Upper-middle income South Africans are selling up to emigrate

The relocation of talent from South Africa to New Zealand and Australia has been going on for many decades and will continue for a long time until conditions improve dramatically at home. This may take a long time. Until then, countries abroad that are successful in attracting some of the best available talent in the world will continue to benefit from the situation and immigrants will continue to improve their lives.