Pakistan’s Doctor Exodus: 2025 saw highest every doctors leaving Pakistan!

For nearly three decades, the number of doctors emigrating from Pakistan remained relatively low and stable. But over the last 10–15 years, the trend has clearly broken.

Recent official emigration data shows:
• Annual doctor emigration rising from a few hundred in the early 2000s
• Crossing 1,000 per year around 2010
• Touching nearly 4,000 doctors in recent years

This is not a sudden spike. It is a structural trend.

Behind these numbers lie:
– Frustration with working conditions
– Limited career progression
– Security and quality-of-life concerns
– Global demand actively pulling our trained workforce out

Pakistan heavily subsidizes medical education. When doctors leave in large numbers, the country loses:
• Public investment
• Clinical capacity
• Teaching and mentoring potential
• Health system resilience

This is not just a “brain drain” problem.
It is a health system sustainability problem.

The uncomfortable question:

Are we producing doctors for Pakistan — or for export?

Gallup Pakistan Digital Analytics has a dashboard to track exit Pakistan trends and can be accessed here :

https://lnkd.in/dWt5Qn3B