Migration of Bhutanese workers to Australia has sparked intense public debate and garnered media attention in recent years. The profile of migrants, largely composed of civil servants from key sectors, has alarmed the Royal Government of Bhutan about potential brain drain and disruption to the country's development prospects. Exit data from Paro International Airport highlights the sharp increase in external migration, with monthly departures increasing from less than 500, on average, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to more than 5,000 a month in early 2023. According to the data from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, the stock of Bhutanese migrants in Australia more than doubled from 12,424 in 2020 to 25,363 in 2024. A large proportion of these migrants are students. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that 13,406 international students from Bhutan were enrolled in Australian universities between January and September 2024 alone. At the same time, aspirations to migrate are high among Bhutan's working-age population. Notably, 10 percent of NEET (neither in employment, education, nor training) youth aspire to migrate. This report sheds more light on the recent surge in external migration, mainly to Australia, by documenting the profile of migrants and aspiring migrants, and identifying key drivers behind this trend, as well as outlining policy options to manage it. The report relies on a phone survey conducted in 2024, which was administered on 1,208 households. These households fall into three categories: 465 households have at least one member who migrated, primarily to Australia post 2022; 143 households have one member who aspires to migrate within a one-year timeframe; and the remainder of households serve as a comparator group to the other two household categories
