Africa's STEM Brain Drain — Emigration Flow by Destination Country

Estimated 1.09 million African STEM professionals residing abroad · 2024 data · Sources: KNOMAD, OECD, World Bank MIGNEX

~1.09M
African STEM professionals in diaspora (2024 estimate)
West Africa source
East Africa source
Southern Africa source
North Africa source
ORIGIN REGIONS DESTINATION COUNTRIES West Africa Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire ~414k East Africa Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania ~262k Southern Africa South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia ~316k North Africa Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria ~98k United Kingdom NHS + tech sector · 29.5% 322k United States H-1B/O-1 visas · 26.8% 292k Canada Express Entry · 18.2% 198k Germany Skilled Workers Act · 11.4% 124k France Francophone corridor · 6.3% 69k Other destinations Australia, UAE, Netherlands · 8.1% 88k ⟵ EMIGRATION FLOW ⟶ ~17.6% of Africa's STEM graduates emigrate (2025 est.) — verified anchor: 13% (World Bank, 2010)

Sources: KNOMAD (World Bank, database closed 2024); OECD DIOC; World Bank SM.EMI.TERT.ZS (verified anchor: 13%, 2010/2011); UNESCO 2024. Proxy validation: Nigerian doctors abroad — UK 48.5%, Canada 20.9%, USA 19.4% (GMC/MCN 2024); UK Skilled Worker visas to Nigerians: 78,000+ yr to Sept 2023 (+399% since 2019); Canada Express Entry: Nigeria #2 source 2023 (20,380 PRs). Figures are BETAR.africa editorial estimates. Flow widths represent proportional shares, not verified bilateral migration counts.

BETAR.africa Data & Visual Journalism · Q1 2026 Research-to-Revenue Gap Report · BETA-67 / coordinates with BETA-70