It's time to rethink Bangladesh's international migration strategy

International migration from poorer to wealthier nations has long been a defining feature of the global economy. It is driven by the pursuit of higher incomes, better living standards, improved healthcare, and expanded educational opportunities. Like many countries in South Asia, Bangladesh began exporting manpower to the Middle East in the late 1970s. Today, over one million Bangladeshis leave the country each year to work abroad-making Bangladesh the seventh-largest migrant-sending nation in the world.

Migration has been one of Bangladesh's most powerful engines of growth. Millions of its citizens, mostly unskilled or semi-skilled, have toiled across the Gulf, Southeast Asia, and Southern Europe. Remittance inflows have risen dramatically: from about $350 million annually in the 1980s to more than $750 million in the 1990s and now it exceeds $20 billion per year. These remittances have funded education, housing, healthcare, and rural livelihoods, while helping stabilise the economy during successive crises.

Yet this success story has reached its limits. Bangladesh's migration model remains largely reactive, functioning as a release valve for surplus labour rather than a proactive instrument of global engagement. As the world undergoes rapid demographic and technological transformation, it is time for Bangladesh to reimagine migration not as welfare, but as economic diplomacy-a strategic avenue to position the nation as a supplier of skills, innovation, and human capital to a world that increasingly demands them.

A Changing Global Context

Global fertility rates are plunging, and populations across Europe, East Asia, and North America are aging, shrinking, and the countries there are facing acute labour shortages-from healthcare to high-tech manufacturing. At the same time, automation and artificial intelligence are reshaping industries, rewarding nations that invest in adaptable, tech-savvy workforces. These shifts are not occurring in isolation. Recent policy changes abroad have made access to foreign labour markets increasingly contingent on the quality-not just the cost-of workers. Countries that prioritise human capital and technical competence will seize emerging opportunities, while those that fall behind risk exclusion. It's important to note that while trade in goods is often constrained by tariffs, trade in services remains largely unrestricted-and its value is driven by human capital. Many of these services can now be delivered remotely, provided there is robust internet connectivity.

This global transformation presents a striking paradox: while the developed world is running out of workers, much of the developing world struggles to productively engage its youth. For Bangladesh-where the median age is less than 30 compared to 41-48 years in advanced countries -this imbalance offers a historic opportunity. If the country reimagines migration not as a domestic escape valve but as a strategic global partnership, it can turn its demographic advantage into its most valuable export. In the face of a faltering economy, such a strategy could reignite hopes among educated youth and redirect students' focus to more productive activities -toward a future of purpose, mobility, and global relevance.

From Brain Drain to Brain Gain

For decades, the exodus of educated professionals was lamented as a brain drain, a national loss. Economists such as Jagdish Bhagwati and Koichi Hamada even proposed a "brain-drain tax" to compensate developing nations for the talent they lost. While that idea captured an earlier era's anxieties, it no longer fits today's interconnected world.

In the age of digital work, global supply chains, and remote collaboration, skilled migration can be a win-win, a mutually beneficial deployment of human capital. Workers abroad are not necessarily lost; they are connector bridges linking their home economies to networks of technology, finance, and innovation. Managed wisely, this circulation of skills can strengthen both the sending and receiving countries.

This is where economic diplomacy becomes essential. Modern diplomacy extends beyond trade agreements and aid negotiations to encompass the flow of talent, skills, and ideas. By integrating migration policy into its diplomatic agenda, Bangladesh can turn its manpower exports into strategic relationships-opening markets, attracting investment, and expanding its influence abroad.

Learning from Asia's Experience

India, China, and the Philippines offer valuable lessons. India transformed its "brain drain" into "brain circulation." Its software engineers and scientists who once left for Silicon Valley later became conduits for technology transfer, investment, and credibility in the global IT industry.

China institutionalized the return of overseas talent through its "Thousand Talents" and "Changjiang Scholars" programmes, offering research grants, housing, and career fast-tracks. Its diplomats framed these initiatives as elements of national innovation policy.

The Philippines built one of the world's most sophisticated labour-export systems, negotiating bilateral agreements, professionalising training, and protecting workers abroad. Migration became a pillar of Philippine economic diplomacy-earning remittances while building global goodwill.

Bangladesh can adapt each approach: India's innovation networks, China's incentives for returnees, and the Philippines' professional management of labour mobility.

Reframing Bangladesh's Human-Resource Strategy

To move from exporting workers to deploying skills, Bangladesh must place human capital at the heart of its national development strategy. This means:

• Investing in future skills. Expanding STEM and technical education, modernising vocational training, and aligning curricula with international standards. Prioritising digital literacy, renewable-energy technology, and healthcare services.

• Emphasising modern language competence. Proficiency in English and other international languages is now a prerequisite for global employability. Systematic investment in language training, from primary school through university, will determine whether Bangladeshis can compete in high-value global services.

• Institutionalising skills diplomacy. The foreign ministry, the expatriate's welfare ministry, and the private sector should coordinate to negotiate skill-recognition agreements, mutual licensing frameworks, and joint training programmes with partner countries. Skilled migration must be treated as part of trade and investment diplomacy, not merely a welfare concern.

• Leveraging the diaspora. The 8-10 million Bangladeshi diaspora can be a vast reservoir of soft power. Offering dual citizenship, diaspora bonds, and structured innovation networks can transform them into partners in national development.

From Demographic Advantage to Demographic Dividend

Bangladesh's youthful population offers a fleeting but powerful advantage. To convert this demographic advantage into a genuine demographic dividend, three ingredients are indispensable: First, education that equips youth with cognitive, technical, and linguistic skills; second, health investments that ensure a productive and resilient workforce; and an outward-oriented growth strategy that connects domestic capabilities to global demand through trade, investment, and managed migration.

The proposed migration strategy aligns naturally with this framework. By preparing its young population for global participation-through skills, health, and education-Bangladesh can transform its demographic window into a sustainable source of growth and influence.

The Strategic Moment

After Bangladesh's first generation of migrants-built resilience through remittances, the next must build prosperity through knowledge and skill. The world's demand for talent is rising even as populations age and borders tighten. If Bangladesh positions itself as a reliable source of skilled, multilingual, and adaptable workers, it can enhance not only its economy but also its diplomatic footprint.

In the coming years, economic diplomacy will be measured not just in trade volumes or investment flows, but also in human-capital exchanges-who trains, who works, and who innovates across borders. By embracing a vision of skills migration, Bangladesh can move beyond the outdated narrative of brain drain toward a model of shared prosperity and strategic engagement.

In an aging world hungry for talent, this may prove to be Bangladesh's most valuable export-and its most effective instrument of diplomacy.

Dr M.G. Quibria is a development economist and former senior adviser at the Asian Development Bank Institute. mgquibria.morgan@gmail.com.

Dr Barkat-e-Khuda is a former professor and chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Dhaka. barkatek@yahoo.com.

The opinions expressed in the article are personal and not of any institutions the authors are affiliated with.