The youth of Lebanon, mostly encompassing graduating students and prospective master’s students, have begun to find it awfully difficult to remain in Lebanon, resulting from its current state.
This has led to this year’s emigration rate reaching its peak.
Lebanon’s economic plight and the Lebanese pound’s 80% devaluation against the US dollar have made everything increasingly expensive for students to remain put and hold themselves financially independent.
The political instability of the country further makes it difficult for said students to remain hopeful in a possible future that they could cultivate in the country.
According to a source at the British council, “the number of IELTS applications,” which is an international standardized English test usually taken when applying to English based universities, “has almost doubled this year, compared to 2019.”
The source also told The961 that the number of applicants always increases when there’s political or economical instability in the country, however, “this year has one of the highest numbers of applicants.”
He concluded by emphasizing that “the applications for studying abroad have also increased exponentially, which means people are trying everything to find a way out of Lebanon.”
According to calculations by MacroTrends, the current net migration rate for Lebanon in 2020 is at 47.19% increase from 2019, which, had the situation of the country not been in shambles, would be shocking.
22-year-old Ali Hamad, an AUB graduate in industrial-organizational psychology, stated that his reasons for leaving Lebanon are based on his fear to get stuck in Lebanon considering the “detrimental trend that we’re going through.”
He further emphasizes that he’s worried about “getting trapped here without having the opportunity to explore outside, based on how quickly things are going downhill.”
