|
ZIM: Focus on brain drain
IRIN - Zimbabwe is experiencing a debilitating flight of professional and skilled people escaping the country's economic crisis, a study funded by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has found. A large number of Zimbabweans had taken up South African citizenship and there were probably more Zimbabweans in South Africa than in the United Kingdom, the country with the highest official tally of expatriate Zimbabweans. The study was undertaken by the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC), under contract from the National Economic and Consultative Forum, to measure the rate and level of the 'brain drain'. It confirmed that the "level and trend of the brain drain in Zimbabwe has reached unacceptable and unsustainable heights". Noting that "during the last four years, this brain drain trend has escalated in magnitude to levels that have serious implications for the country's capacity to deliver on the sustainable development front". Zimbabwe dropped to 145th place out of 175 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) rankings in 2003.
| You mean there's 30 places worse than Zim? |
The HDI is a composite measure of average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, education and a decent standard of living.
| "Zim-Bob-We: Where only the dumb guys stay!" |
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-07-24 |
