Outmigration from Bhutan Reaches Critical Levels
Brain Drain Crisis as Nearly One in 10 Bhutanese Now Lives Abroad
By Dawa Gyelmo* in Thimphu, Bhutan
June 23, 2025
Bhutan’s King and Queen address Bhutanese citizens in Perth, Australia. Photo courtesy: Association of Bhutanese in Perth Inc.
An estimated 66,000 Bhutanese now live abroad, with a significant majority in Australia. For a small Himalayan country of just over 765,000 people, this figure translates to nearly 9 percent of the population—and likely a much larger share of the country’s young, working-age citizens.
Each year, the number of Bhutanese students and professionals seeking education and employment in countries such as Australia and Canada grows steadily. The trend has raised concern at the highest levels of government.
Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay recently called the ongoing outmigration of skilled individuals in their prime working years an existential threat. During a session of Bhutan’s Upper House, he warned that if the pattern continues, the country risks a significant decline in population, undermining both national security and long-term sovereignty.
He said the impact is already visible across the education and health sectors, with many among the 66,000 living abroad having been experienced civil servants, teachers, nurses and other professionals.
“We cannot ask the civil servants not to resign, or stop people from leaving the country,” said Tobgay. “I cannot guarantee that the professionals will (not) resign, and when they do they often cite poor working environments, and they may be true.”
But he added that the country must come to terms with the real reason: income. “If this is the sole reason for leaving, then we need to explore ways to create jobs in the country that offer earnings comparable to those abroad.”
Around 3.6 percent of the global population lives outside their country of birth, including both voluntary migrants, such as students and workers, and those forcibly displaced, like refugees and asylum seekers, according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
In comparison, India has about 2.5 percent of its population living abroad, based on Ministry of External Affairs estimates. Pakistan’s overseas population accounts for roughly 2.8 percent of its total. Nepal, driven largely by labour migration to the Gulf, has around 7.6 percent of its population living abroad.
A Post-Pandemic Spike
Australia remains the top destination for Bhutanese migrants.
In 2021, the Australian census counted around 12,500 Bhutanese residents. That number has since surged. Chimi Dorji, President of the Association of Bhutanese in Perth Inc., told Newsreel Asia that more than 20,000 Bhutanese now live in Perth alone. His association has 2,100 paid members and an estimated 20,000 unpaid, unregistered members.
The numbers climbed especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, as travel and education pathways reopened. Although Australia has since introduced age restrictions on visa applicants, limiting eligibility for onshore student and permanent resident visas to those under 45, the flow of young Bhutanese undergraduates continues largely unaffected.
“Many Bhutanese living in Australia continue to seek permanent residence as they plan to settle down and not return home,” said Dorji.
As of June 2023, 2,293 Bhutanese nationals had obtained permanent residency in Australia since 2011, as reported by The Bhutanese.
A Generation The BhutaneseTashi Zam, 31, left Bhutan for Australia in 2018. “We never planned to travel overseas when we both graduated back in 2015-2016,” she said. “Our initial dream was to find a suitable job and settle in Bhutan.”
But the couple spent nearly two years searching, without success. Youth unemployment was crushing. Their families finally pooled resources and encouraged them to marry formally so they could apply together. “Looking back, we made the right choice. We’re earning decently and helping our families back home,” said Zam.
Alleged corruption and the pre-selection of candidates in Bhutan’s public sector were also cited by others as major reasons for leaving.
Dorji said that even those already employed have resigned and left—mainly because of low pay, high workloads and rigid rules imposed by Bhutan’s Royal Civil Service Commission. Bureaucratic favouritism and nepotism added to the frustration.
Dorji himself worked as a forestry official before moving to Australia with his wife in 2019.
Nidup Gyeltshen, a Ph.D. student in Australia, said he left primarily to pursue higher education, but acknowledged that the opportunities for personal and professional growth there were far greater. “Balancing work and study helps improve personal growth, and achieve academic dreams,” he said. Unlike most of his peers, he says he intends to return home after completing his studies.
Back in Bhutan, 33-year-old Singye is preparing to apply for a student visa to Canada after her Australian visa application was rejected. “I’m doing everything I can to get to Canada,” she said, after having already spent years and significant funds trying to study abroad.
For those who feel underqualified for jobs or student visas in Western countries, the Gulf remains a fallback. Fewer than 10,000 Bhutanese currently work in countries across the Middle East.
Strains on Public Services
The World Bank has warned of a growing brain drain in Bhutan, noting that the exodus of educated youth is beginning to affect service delivery. The sectors most affected are education and healthcare.
In March 2025, Bhutan’s Ministry of Education announced plans to rehire retired or resigned teachers to fill 1,126 vacancies across the country. Some schools had gone months without subject teachers. Most of these shortages were caused by teachers resigning to pursue higher education and employment abroad.
Healthcare has been hit even harder. In June 2024, the Ministry of Health informed Parliament that it might need to hire foreign medical professionals. The country faces a shortage of 172 doctors and specialists, and 824 nurses.
These gaps are already having consequences. A 2024 study found that 61 percent of Bhutanese nurses had prescribed medicines illegally in the absence of available doctors, leaving many patients dissatisfied and potentially unsafe, according to a media report.
In an interview with Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS), the World Bank Acting Country Director for Bhutan, Cecila Fruman, called it “a classic case of brain drain.”
“These are truly the most skilled people who are leaving the country and this directly impacts the economy,” Fruman was quoted as saying. “We have seen the weakening of some of the civil service and the weakening of the economy overall.”
Remittances on the Rise
While the outmigration trend raises serious concerns at home, it has also brought in significant remittances.
Between August 2023 and October 2024, Bhutanese abroad sent home $210 million, according to the Royal Monetary Authority. Of that, $132 million came from Australia. Other key sources included the United States, Kuwait, Canada, the United Kingdom, Qatar, the UAE, Singapore, Italy and Bahrain.
In the first two months of 2025 alone, Bhutan received $36 million in remittances, up from $30 million during the same period in 2024. Of this, $23 million came from Bhutanese in Australia.
The rise in remittances masks deeper structural concerns. The money sent home by Bhutanese abroad shows growing dependence on citizens who have left due to lack of opportunities at home. These inflows come at the cost of losing skilled professionals, weakening essential public services and hollowing out the country’s future workforce.
Reintegration Efforts Underway
To counter the trend, Bhutan’s government has launched the National Reintegration Programme (NRP), also called REVIVE, under the Department of Employment and Entrepreneurship. The programme aims to draw overseas Bhutanese back and match them with opportunities that benefit from the skills and knowledge they have acquired abroad.
As of May 2025, 560 Bhutanese had registered with the programme. And 170 actually returned, but only 28 secured jobs, mostly in hospitality and services, according to BBS.
Recognising the emotional pull and practical appeal of overseas life, the Bhutanese government has also tried soft diplomacy. In October 2024, Their Majesties the King and Queen made a historic visit to Australia, meeting Bhutanese communities in Sydney, Canberra and Perth.
A major focus of the visit was to share the Royal Vision for the Gelephu Mindfulness City project – an ambitious plan to build a sustainable and future-oriented city near Bhutan’s southern border. The project, initiated by the King, is intended not just as an infrastructure initiative, but as a national aspiration that could give Bhutanese abroad a reason to reconnect with the country. Speaking to diaspora communities during the visit, the King described the project as part of a larger effort to secure a dignified and promising future for all Bhutanese citizens.
Bhutan is a constitutional monarchy, where the King serves as the head of state with significant moral authority, while executive powers are exercised by an elected government.
Whether it will be enough to slow the tide remains uncertain. For now, the hope lies in making Bhutan a place young people choose to stay, and not one they feel forced to leave. The ongoing crisis in Bhutan also offers a quiet warning to other nations in South Asia, many of which also face rising outmigration and shrinking public sectors. Unless there are meaningful efforts to create fair, dignified opportunities at home, even the most patriotic citizens will eventually leave, not out of ambition, but out of necessity.
*(Dawa Gyelmo is an independent journalist based in Bhutan. She previously worked with Kuensel and has written for Dialogue Earth, Scroll.in and SciDev, among others.)
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