Lebanon Is in
Terminal Brain Drain

Foreign Policy

Professionals providing essential services such as doctors, nurses, and engineers, as well as academics and entrepreneurs, are the first to relocate in such situations. Economists say that even though data is scant, the trends are worrying. In a December 2020 assessment, the World Bank warned that brain drain was becoming an “increasingly desperate option” in Lebanon, as the economic crisis ranks in possibly the top three most severe crises in the world since the mid-19th century. “The sharp deterioration in basic services would have long-term implications,” the World Bank said in June, including mass migration. “Permanent damage to human capital would be very hard to recover. Perhaps this dimension of the Lebanese crisis makes the Lebanon episode unique compared to other global crises.” FULL STORY