More than 150,000 Tunisians have left their country over the past five years (2019–2024) to settle abroad. This figure is almost double the number of departures recorded during the 2009–2014 period.
In 2022, 1,816,833 Tunisians—representing 15.4% of the population—were registered as TRE (Tunisians Residing Abroad), which amounts to roughly one out of every seven citizens.
The conclusion is clear: Tunisian migration has intensified over the past decade, especially among young people. A genuine brain drain is underway, and engineering and medicine—sectors in high demand worldwide—are the most affected by this outward migration.
According to an official statement by the Dean of Tunisian Engineers, Kamel Sahnoun, in 2025, 39,000 engineers out of 90,000 registered with the Order of Engineers have left Tunisia to settle abroad. The country trains approximately 8,000 engineers each year, and on average, 20 engineers emigrate every day, further worsening the shortage of qualified labor in several key sectors.
Even more alarming, in 2025, out of a graduating class of 1,900 Tunisian doctors, 1,600 left Tunisia to work abroad.
The Tunisian brain drain reveals a deep imbalance between the country’s human potential and its national ability to retain and utilize it.
Tunisia invests substantially in training its engineers, doctors, and researchers, but the benefits of this investment materialize abroad, in countries that are better equipped to absorb and value this talent.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM – UN Migration), the majority of young Tunisians who emigrate cite as their main motivations: lack of professional opportunities, low salaries, and limited career prospects.
For example, Tunisia is now the leading provider of foreign doctors in France, after Morocco. And without significant economic and social improvements, these numbers are likely to rise in the future.
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Ahmed Lagha
Cofounder and Treasurer
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