There has been a major increase in skilled professionals leaving the country as South Africa faces continued uncertainty.<\/p>\n
Speaking to eNCA<\/a><\/strong>, Sable International’s Andrew Rissik said that people are leaving for many reasons – with two of the biggest reasons being economic uncertainty and crime.<\/p>\n “We are looking at around 25,000 skilled people leaving South Africa each year, with around 1,000 – 2,000 of these people also being very wealthy people who are able to buy their way into other countries.<\/p>\n “These are potentially very high-quality taxpayers that South Africa is losing,” said Rissik.<\/p>\n This averages out to around 68 skilled people<\/strong>, and between two and five ultra-wealthy<\/strong> South Africans, leaving the country every day.<\/p>\n “What we see is that a lot of people with young children tend to start getting pulled back to South Africa because of family links.<\/p>\n “Although we have seen this (trend) slow compared to the past decade because of the economic situation in South Africa as we know it – it’s really pretty negative at the moment.”<\/p>\n Rissik added that as long as these ‘push factors’ are present, people will continue to leave.<\/p>\n Popular destinations\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Department of Home Affairs does not keep record of South Africans who emigrate permanently; however, receiver countries do keep track of immigrants, which gives an indication of how many people are actually leaving.<\/p>\n This data shows that the UK is still the most popular choice for South African immigrants, while a growing number are also choosing to settle in Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n
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