In this post, I highlight some of the main reasons why people leave South Africa. There appears to have been a sharp increase in the number of people leaving South Africa in the past few years. However, migration is something that has been happening for decades, all over the world. It’s not just an African issue. With that said, some of the motivating factors for people leaving South Africa are different to people who might emigrate from Australia, or the UK, or America. They just are.
Push and Pull Factors for leaving South Africa
We left South Africa, for the second time, in June 2018. Speaking from personal experience and from talking to others (as I work on my podcast The Migration Generation,) the reasons can be separated into two different categories: Push Factors and Pull Factors.
Push Factors – These are reasons that make people want to leave South Africa. They are the things that push people to leave.
Pull Factors – These are the reasons that pull people towards other countries. Every country offers different things, but most of the pull factors can be grouped together.
What are the main Push Factors for people leaving South Africa?
- Crime and personal security. The crime rate in South Africa is one of the highest in the world. People need to protect themselves and their possessions and this comes at a cost too. The rate of rape, murder, hijackings and theft is extremely high. Many people don’t want to live with the constant threat of this every single day and night. The alternative of a safer living environment for families, with less crime, is a huge push factor for most people.
- The high cost of Private School education. Whilst government-funded education is still available, many people feel that the standard is not what they would want it to be and so they put their kids in private education which is very expensive. For a large number of university graduates who leave the South African education system, having their qualifications NOT recognised worldwide without further studying or validating required too, makes parents reconsider the quality of the children’s education. Especially when you factor in the high cost of that university education as well.
- The exorbitant cost of Private Medical Aid fees can be crippling. Especially considering that the option of state-funded medical care is substandard, underfunded, under-resourced and life-threatening in many situations.
- Employment and Career Progression. With many of the policies put in place to address the previously disadvantaged (I’m not here to debate that), many people now find their future career opportunities dwindling. Considering the high costs mentioned above the option of taking lower-paid jobs is not an option. People feel pushed to find alternative employment elsewhere.
- The weakening currency, the Rand, means that people are concerned about the value of their assets, and the value of their investments when they get to old age and retirement.
Moving your children from school in SA to school in the UK.
What school in the UK looks like now.
What are the main Pull Factors for people leaving South Africa
Push factors are not the only motivating factor for emigration. In spite of the list above, many people are prepared to put up with those. However, there are PULL factors that make immigrating more attractive than staying.
- A safer living environment for families. With most people immigrating to countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the UAE, the threat to personal safety and the crime rate in general in those countries compared to South Africa is incomparable.
- Free or affordable education for children with their qualifications being widely accepted throughout the rest of the world. No questions asked.
- The availability of State-Funded or subsidised medical care that is of a high standard, even if this does come with long waiting lists. I think it’s important to balance out cost vs quality here. No one is debating that high-quality medical care is available in South Africa, it’s just that the cost of this is exorbitant and unaffordable for many. In some situations, the medical facilities needed are not offered in South Africa. People then move to where they are offered for the sake of who is in need. This is not unique to South African immigration.
- A number of countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and the UAE actively recruit people from South Africa in professions such as teachers, doctors, engineers, etc. People are tempted and pulled by impressive salary and living allowance packages.
- Many people leave South Africa to seek career progression and enhancement overseas where their passions and professions might not be provided for in South Africa.
- Citizenship: The opportunity to give their children passports or citizenship of the countries of their ancestry (i.e. British or EU Passports). For many, they are the last line of generations who can do this for their children. They see these passports as giving their children better future opportunities. So leaving South Africa to lock in this option for their kids is something they choose to do.
- Many people also simply leave South Africa for the opportunity of travelling the world. This is not unique to South Africa, this happens the world over.
What are the reasons people Don’t Want to leave South Africa or indeed make them Return to South Africa?
Let’s not deny that the #ImStaying movement is strong. People who have no intention of leaving South Africa are fiercely proud to live there. They are continuing on with their lives, investing in their futures in South Africa even when it seems as if so many people are leaving. There are many people who move abroad for some time and then decide they would rather return to South Africa and live there forever. Here are a few reasons why:
- They don’t want to leave their family and friends.
- The weather in South Africa is amazing!
- The lifestyle of sunshine, braaing, rugby, the bushveld, the seaside, the fishing, hunting etc. This is hard to beat anywhere else in the world.
- The diversity, culture and beauty that is Africa herself hard to beat!
- Patriotism – South Africa is their home and they don’t want to leave.
- A sense of wanting to help fix what’s broken instead of leaving for ‘greener pastures’.
- The Boks. #truestory
What are the reasons people Can’t Leave South Africa?
Many people want to leave South Africa, but simply can’t. Here are some of the main reasons why that is.
- Affordability – immigrating is an expensive activity.
- Inability to sell property at a value that will ensure they can use those funds to purchase property in their destination country.
- Visa restrictions. All countries have certain requirements to control immigration. For many who only hold South African passports and don’t have the skills required for Skilled Migrant Work Permits immigrating is often impossible.
- They refuse to leave family behind. This is mostly elderly relatives who can’t or won’t immigrate with them and they feel like they can’t leave them behind.
Open Minds and Heavy Hearts
These lists are not exhaustive by any means. Many people have other reasons for leaving South Africa as well. One thing that is important to note is that no one emigrates for one reason alone. You don’t make a decision to leave your country of birth on a whim, or for one reason alone. It’s a decision that is not taken lightly. One that those who do make it, do so with a clear head and often a heavy heart.
If there is something glaringly obvious that I have missed off any of these lists, please let me know in the comments and I will gladly update it.
To everyone who is considering leaving South Africa, I just want to say one thing. “The grass is not always greener, but it is greenest where you water it.”
If you’d like to follow me on Instagram to stay up to date with our new lives in the UK since we moved from South Africa, please do. And do take a moment to drop me a comment below to let me know where you are reading this post from. I’m endlessly curious to know where my blog posts are read from.
If you’d like to be part of the Migration Generation Podcast, drop me a message and let me know and I can send you all the details.
Have a lekker day!
Really great post, covers a lot of the angles. We cannot emigrate for financial reasons, so far, but we also love living here, but that could all change when my kids start school properly in a year or two.
Yes, it’s very expensive to emigrate. You live in one of the most gorgeous places in South Africa – I’d also find it hard to leave. Thanks so much for taking the time to read and to comment on my post. I really do appreciate it.
I love your quote at the end about the grass! Definitely what we all have to do…water it wherever we may be standing!
I never had a feeling about this as much as I have recently. I personally can never afford to move. I don’t have UK passports or links. I don’t have money. I don’t have money. I am pretty much in the majority I am sure, so when people talk about how it’s an investment to move, how great it is having all these passports and citizenship options…. it is really patronising. We don’t all have those opportunities and finances available to us.
So as much as 5yrs ago I had no issue with people talking about their fabulous new lives…. lately it’s become a bit too much for me personally. But I don’t need to rant about it or make it anybody else’s issue, I just scroll by.
I liked that you factored in both sides of this debate/points of view. <3
I also hate it when people portray their new lives as ‘better’. It’s all about perspective and options. If you don’t have options, you just have to make the best of it. I do wonder how much social media algorithms affect how much we see. I see far more bad stuff about South Africa now that I live away than when I lived there which is weird. From the perspective of someone who left, I try to show the balance of the good and the bad, but also so much of it here is new and foreign and so I talk about it. It’s really not stuff that English people are interested in. Thanks so much for taking the time to read and to comment on my post. I really do appreciate it.
I agree here but there’s one reason you didn’t mention and it’s pretty much the only reason we are planning to leave. Opportunity for the children once they leave school and being left behind. I don’t want to spend my entire life bringing up my four kids and get to a point where they all leave, live scattered all over the world and we are left behind. I want to leave so we can stay together. And that’s why we are leaving. So sad though.
That’s a good point. I don’t think that’s something you can guarantee though, but it’s worth a shot. X
Reading from my couch in SA ? valid points you have here. We’ve been “talking” about other options but nothing is pushing/pulling us at this point in time. However, we’re keeping an open mind as we looking at the boys’ future life in SA. Looks a bit grim right now… Agreed, that the grass is greener where you water it ?
Hello, Thank you for outlining the reasons for leaving SA so succinctly. We are currently in the process of leaving Cape Town to live in the UK with our 2 children. It’s a really hard decision as we love our lives here and there is so much to love about this open and expansive lifestyle but a combination of the points you mentioned above has made us come to the decision to leave too.
Ah I wish you the best of luck. It is so hard but also so worthwhile. X
Reading from Canada, we’ve been here for 2 years and I still don’t know if we want to stay. But then again, do we want to go back…? Something that’s really been getting to me, is the difficulty in finding childcare. Not only is it expensive, it’s mostly fully booked with waiting lists. And building up a credit score from scratch is no fun. Oh yes, and speech therapy is theoretically available, but very theoretically. In South Africa (GP) you pick up the phone and make an appointment with a speech or physio therapist…here (rural) we get to be on a waiting list for 3-6 months. That’s for physio. Speech therapy is still only a rumour. But then we get to go for walks in the neighbourhood, or leave the bigger kids alone at home with no concerns…I feel so conflicted!
If you able to settle in the UK and have a house and a job then you have achieved success, not only for yourself but for your lineage/descendents. All the best to you. Marcos -Western Cape
We moved to New Zealand in 2008. We did this because we felt that it was the best thing for our young son. In the future it would help him get a good job and also all the other reasons such as safety, job security, medical, schooling etc. Every day in the first few years I wanted to go back to South Africa. My partner and I found jobs relatively easily but living in Auckland we found that all that we did was work. My partner is a cabinet maker and I worked in retail. When you include travel we’d be away from home for 12 hours a day and he had to work Saturdays and I had to also work a weekend day. I hardly saw my son grow up and as a family it was hard. When you weren’t at work you were tired from the long hours. We didn’t have money to return to South Africa. You eventually learn to accept this work culture. We weren’t rich and we weren’t poor. Auckland is very expensive one person’s wages pays for your accommodation which is essentially a leaky plasterboard home. We were lucky in that we lived in a lovely safe suburb. I initially experienced bullying at work because I was a foreigner. Things eventually got better once I excepted that this was normal and over the years I made wonderful friends and worked with great teams of people. I progressed and received lots of training. Kiwis are really friendly, down to earth, hard working people. My son went to university eventually which we paid the first three years for. Not because we were loaded but because we saved never splurged on anything. We thought this would set him up for a good future. Unfortunately things had changed in New Zealand by then and having a degree didn’t seem to count for much. Work experience did and companies are very fussy not always willing to give someone with no experience a chance when there are so many people looking for work with experience. (Many retired people work to help supplement their income). We decided to move to Perth in October 2019 just before the pandemic. Hoping that our son would find work here. The cost of living is also the cheapest in Australia. In Auckland he would never be able to own his own house and have to rent a room in a house shared by others if he were to move out. It’s hard there but beautiful. We made the move my son got a job within the first month and even though it was hard in the beginning because it was a casual position and he didn’t get many hours and covid hit. He now works full time hours, loves his job got his driver’s license also within months of moving here. He kept failing in NZ (won’t go into that). He is doing really well. Next year he hopes to buy an apartment with a bit of help for us. My partner also got a job within a month and I got one in the February just as the pandemic hit. We worked through covid Western Australia handled the whole thing wonderfully. Housing here is really cheap to buy but if you rent there is a shortage. Where we live is also beautiful. Yet we can’t settle. I experienced bullying by the store manager the first week of training. I’m older and more experienced now so can stand up for myself but when I went to my actually store where I was going to be placed the manager there was a bully too. In fact the numerous assistant store managers before me had left because of him. He even told me i would do all the donkey work. The company did sort the problem out. I did leave after nearly a year there. My partner has moved on to many jobs since being here there is plenty of work in his field but he has also witnessed bullying and owners of the companies following unethical work practices. That is just our experience. Maybe we have just gotten used to professionalism in NZ. We find lot’s of the people to be aggressive and angry, terrible drivers, everyone seems to strive to have a land cruiser and then make it their mission to bully you on the roads. The heat is insufferable seriously! Every year we have terrible bush fires and over east they seem to be having endless floods. No one seems to be doing anything about climate change because th Sat could impact the mining. Women working on the mines seem to be getting sexually assaulted on a daily basis and the mines are doing nothing about it. I’m not going to have a rant and a rave about how appalling the culture seems to be here because this is what I have experienced. We are seriously considering moving back to NZ twelve hour days, high cost of living and crazy house prices just because after nearly three years we still can’t accept this culture. We are even considering going back to South Africa it’s just too much. If we had come to WA first then we would have had to accept this culture. I do believe that not all of Australia is like this apparently the rest of Australia do view WA as different. I also have met some really lovely people but at the moment our house is sandwiched between a verbally abusive husband and a drug selling women with three little girls and a baby on the way. She still smokes, etc. So I am feeling a bit negative. We previously lived not even 5 km away from here and had the most wonderful neighbours. Good looking street no signs of drug selling or abusive husbands when driving by. Such a beautiful place. Trust me the schooling might be free but if you want your kids safe they are better off in a private school here and I’ve received some really bad service from the free medical facilities. My partner took me to the hospital with chest pains recently and the ‘nurse’ at the door couldn’t understand I had the chest pain not my partner the security guard had to explain this to her. They then determined I wasn’t having a heart attack when I told them I thought it was pleurisy they couldn’t confirm this and sent me home. Don’t call an ambulance here or anywhere in Australia because you might die waiting for them to come or while they leave you in it waiting for space in the hospital to free up!
I guess I’m just tired of South Africans thinking that it’s better here. It’s hard you have to question you values and beliefs and ask is it worth the compromise. While you are there you might think so but once you are here not so much.
This is my experience I’m sure you’ll find 10 other people who have had a wonderful experience and any Australian might think if you don’t like it get lost. How you were raised plays a huge part in adjusting to a different culture.
You will end up doing what you think is best in the end. This is just one person’s experience. Thanks for listening and good luck!
I’m sorry you’ve had to endure all that. I do think that many people never really settle when they leave Africa. My husband and I went back in 2010 after 10 years in the UK. Then returned to the UK to school our children. After being nomads for nearly 10 years, I think we have finally settled – although never say never. I think Africa is extremely hard for older people – my parents are still there and I’m sad that they are still working hard when they should be retired. I don’t think it’s perfect anywhere in the world, we all just have to decide what we can put up with and what we won’t/can’t. I hope you find the right place for you all so you can be at peace.
Very insightful
I am in a dilemma right now.
Privileged in that my company has offered me a position in Canada.
But fears of leaving South Africa.
Chatted to people in Canada who have made the move. Life is different. No worry about violent crime. Freedom to enjoy nature.
Considering all that’s happening right now in this country my thoughts are about the future of my kids.
My fears are starting everything from scratch in another country. Knowing I might not be able to buy a home that side. Being close with my siblings makes it harder to consider the move.
So many thoughts that goes through one’s mind
this website was so helpful tysm :))