Moroccans are the first North African community living abroad. They account for 46% followed by Algerians (23%), Tunisia (20%), Libyans (7%) and Mauritanian (4%). All these nationals represent about 5% of the North African population. A rate significantly higher than the estimated world average of 3.2%. This is what emerges from a study by the Economic Research Centre for Applied Development (CREAD) presented recently in Algiers.
Conducted between December 2014 and February 2015 on the brain drain and development in the space of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), this study found a significant increase in the number of migrant university graduates. They are currently estimated at 853,000 people against 585,000 in 2000, a growth rate of 31%.
In 2000, the rate of emigration of Moroccans with tertiary education was 17%, 13% for Tunisians and 9% for Algerians. Moroccan nationals top the league of the top graduates migrants in the Maghreb with a rate of 397,000, 46% ahead of Algeria (37%) and Tunisia (12%). Libya and Mauritania come in 4th and 5th positions, with 3% and 1% respectively.
Morocco is also well located in terms of student migration from AMU countries that have grown steadily in recent years, the study says. It has more than half of the workforce of the Maghreb students abroad. A place strongly coveted by Tunisia, which recorded growth of 50% since 2000.
