#todayinsight: Portugal Emerges as a Top Destination for Global Graduates: A Shift in Talent Mobility

Portugal has many positive aspects for university graduates. Its lovely beaches, quaint architecture, and agreeable temperature all attract the tourists and scientists. It is also growing in popularity as a location for mobile talent due to its fast internet and comparatively easy immigration laws. Portugal and other nations are making a concerted effort to draw in skilled young migrants as the world’s population ages. To determine how attractive they are to these mobile workers, the economist has ranked 74 nations and territories. 

The indicator is based on basic math: if freeloading graduates were allowed to come and go as they wanted, how much would the overall number of graduates in a nation change? They examined data from the Gallup World Poll, which polls around 150,000 individuals annually from more than 150 nations and territories, to determine the answer. People are asked in the survey if they wish to relocate overseas and, if so, where. We only took into account respondents who claimed to have earned an undergraduate degree as a stand-in for talent.

According to Economist, the percentage of graduates worldwide who would prefer to relocate to Portugal tripled between 2010–12 and 2021–23, making it the nation with the biggest increase in the footloose index. According to our calculations, Portugal’s graduate population would have grown by barely 1% in 2010–12 if all relocation restrictions had been removed. However, according to survey data from 2021–2023, it would swell by 120%, or 1.8 meters. Footloose talent now finds other southern European nations far more appealing. The number of graduates Italy would gain on net increased by a factor of six between 2010–12 and 2021–23, to over 3 million. 

Some nations have taken the opposite course. Interestingly, Britain was placed sixth in 2010–12, but following Brexit, it fell to 20th place and only rose to 14th in the most recent polls. European graduates no longer find Britain attractive, while a greater number of British graduates express a desire to leave. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also dropped in the rankings as more and more gifted individuals in the Gulf now express a desire to move abroad.