October 2, 2025
THIMPHU – Thousands of Bhutanese professionals, drawn by higher wages and better education, are migrating to Australia, a wave that is reshaping the country’s labour market and raising alarm over its long-term development.
A new World Bank report, “Migration Dynamics in Bhutan: Recent Trends, Drivers, and Implications”, released this week, shows that in 2024 nearly 70 percent of voluntary resignations from the civil service came from the education and health sectors—critical areas for the country’s social services. Education alone accounted for one-quarter of all migrants, making it the hardest-hit sector.
The study highlights how the outflow of highly skilled workers is straining the country’s ability to deliver essential services while threatening to undercut its development prospects.
The migration accelerated after Bhutan reopened its borders in 2022, following two years of pandemic restrictions.
The report, based on a household survey conducted nationwide in May and June 2024, traces the drivers behind the surge.
According to the report, Bhutanese workers are being pushed out by limited private sector opportunities, low wages, and frustration with bureaucratic public sector jobs. At the same time, they are pulled abroad by higher salaries, affordable visas, global education opportunities, and a growing diaspora network, particularly in Perth, Western Australia.
The report states that Bhutan’s domestic labour market has struggled to create adequate opportunities for its educated workforce. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated these weaknesses, causing unemployment to jump from 3 percent (between 2015 and 2019) to 6 percent in 2022, disproportionately affecting urban women (15 percent) and the highly educated (12 percent).
The minimum required income (reservation wage) for migrants to return or for aspiring migrants to reconsider leaving is, on average, lower than what they earn or expect abroad, yet it is difficult to attain given the existing wage structures in the domestic labour market. For instance, one in five migrants expect a monthly income exceeding Nu 100,000, which corresponds to the income of the top 1 percent wage earners in Bhutan in 2022.
However, the migration comes with costs. Many Bhutanese professionals face occupational downgrading in Australia, where six in 10 are employed in low-skilled jobs such as cleaning and elder care, despite nearly half having worked in professional roles at home. Only 3 percent manage to continue in professional positions overseas, a shift that diminishes long-term earning potential and reduces the likelihood of transferring valuable skills back to Bhutan.
Pull factors
The pull factors are primarily better education opportunities, high earning potential, favourable visa conditions, and diaspora networks.
The World Bank report states that 43 percent of Bhutanese migrants in Australia are students. Some 64 percent of aspiring migrants shared that education was the main reason for migrating. Over 40 percent of aspiring migrants believe the quality of education abroad is better than in Bhutan.
In addition, there is a compelling economic incentive due to the huge wage differential. Most migrants earned less than Nu 40,000 monthly in Bhutan, but the majority now earn Nu 60,000 or above in Australia, with over 40 percent earning more than Nu 220,000. This financial incentive is especially powerful for women, as the gender wage gap observed in Bhutan significantly narrows in Australia.
Australia’s visa regime also allows dependents of student visa holders to work unlimited hours.
Push factors
The report highlighted that 38 percent of migrants cited inadequate earnings as their main motivation for leaving. Joblessness or economic inactivity increases the probability of migration intentions by 10 percentage points. “There is a mismatch between available vacancies and the qualifications of job seekers,” the report states.
Another factor is dissatisfaction with public sector conditions. Despite being better remunerated than private sector jobs, the public sector has experienced a significant exodus. The reasons include limited opportunities for career progression, modest compensation, heavy workloads, complex bureaucracy, and excessive red tape. These concerns are particularly acute in the health sector. Nearly half (49.5 percent) of aspiring migrants reported the absence of suitable options to study their field of interest in Bhutan.
Recommendations
The report proposes a three-pronged approach to manage the ongoing surge in external migration, aiming to retain local talent, minimise costs associated with brain drain, and maximise the benefits of migration.
The report recommends improving economic diversification by focusing on non-hydropower sectors to create a favourable business environment that generates productive, high-paying jobs and competitive wages. It also recommends enhancing public sector employment (health, education) via better compensation and career management, strengthening skill-to-job matching, and expanding local education fields to align with youth interests and market demands.
To ease the costs of brain drain, the report suggests expanding the skilled workforce through targeted training and international cooperation, including Global Skills Partnerships. It also calls for closer educational ties with institutions abroad, potentially through Bhutanese campuses of Australian universities, and for exploring minimum service requirements in critical public sectors.
The report urges Bhutan to better manage migration’s potential benefits by lowering remittance costs, improving financial literacy, and strengthening reintegration programmes that recognise foreign qualifications and leverage diaspora networks.