PETALING JAYA: Nearly 1.86 million Malaysians, including those with expertise across various fields, have reportedly moved abroad in search of better job opportunities, said Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong.
This figure, he pointed out, is based on the World Migration Report 2022 by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
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“The IOM report shows that the global migration rate averages 3.6 percent.
“In comparison, Malaysia’s migration rate is 5.6 percent of the total population, which translates to about 1.86 million people,“ he said in a written response to Dewan Rakyat.
In response to a question from Chow Yu Hui (PH-Raub), who requested annual migration statistics by ethnicity, destination country, age, and reasons for migration from 2018 to 2024, Sim added that detailed statistics are currently being gathered through additional research and various data sources.
Based on a study by TalentCorp and the World Bank titled Leveraging on Malaysian Diaspora: Malaysian Diaspora Heat Maps, published in April 2022, the Malaysian diaspora in four main countries numbers approximately 281,429 people.
These countries are:
Australia: 138,363, primarily professionals with at least a Bachelor’s degree.
United States: 79,827, with many working in management, business, science, and arts sectors.
United Kingdom: 37,549, largely employed in management, healthcare, hospitality, and professional services.
Canada: 25,690, with most involved in management, technical, science, and medical fields.
He emphasised the Human Resources Ministry, through TalentCorp, has launched several initiatives to encourage overseas Malaysians to return, primarily through the MyHeart platform.
One of the main programmes is the Returning Expert Programme (REP), which, since 2011, has received 11,124 applications and successfully brought back 2,011 talents by June 2024.
“REP offers various incentives, including a 15% income tax rate, tax exemptions on personal belongings, excise duty exemption on vehicles up to RM100,000, and permanent resident (PR) status for spouses and children,“ he added.
