Outward movement
Guyana continues to be a net exporter of its human resources and has one of the highest emigration rates in the world. Two of the five countries, Jordan and Syria, that Guyana is ahead of are in a highly unstable region with Syria being engulfed currently in a civil war. The other three countries, Nauru, Tonga and Micronesia, are small Pacific islands with unsustainable economies. Data sourced from outside of Guyana, including World Bank data, estimate that the net migration rate was about 10.100 last year. The outflow taking place from Guyana is reflected in the simple index created to show the outward movement of people from Guyana. Net departures are often used as a proxy for measuring migration levels and rates where such statistics are not specifically kept by a country. The metric therefore is at best an approximate measure of Guyanese turning their backs on the land of their birth, perhaps out of frustration and desperation.
No discernible policy
The index of net departures from Guyana rose noticeably in 2008 by 103 per cent from the base year of 2006. The base year was chosen to coincide with the base year used by the administration to measure economic performance in Guyana.
According to the index, constructed from data published by the Bureau of Statistics, the number of people leaving Guyana continues to grow significantly, about 53 per cent more from 2007 to 2009. Though somewhat tempered, the departures remained relatively high at 29 per cent more from 2008 to 2010 (the last period for which statistics are officially available to the public) as against any period prior to 2006. It is a trend that has been taking place for ever long, but one that seems to have gathered speed over time with no discernible policy to stimulate such an increase. From 2002 to 2005, the net departure from Guyana grew at an average of 11 per cent per year, but rose rapidly to 38 per cent from 2007 to 2010. It is not clear what is causing Guyanese to maintain such high migration rates, but this trend is typically associated with heightened insecurity and unfavourable views about economic opportunities.
Burgeoning crime
The administration seems quite happy to let Guyanese go since it seems to thrive in the social and economic chaos that it has created, and the insecurity that emanates from it. Further, the statistics about departures from Guyana that are yet to be published might hold many surprises, but the current conditions confronting the human resources of the country do not. Healthcare remains a problem. Crime is up six per cent as reported by the police. While that in itself is troubling, it is even more disturbing to realize that the police have no clue as to how to bring the burgeoning crime situation under control. Very few persons or
