A brain drain is a well-known demographic term used to define the emigration of highly trained or qualified people from a particular country to elsewhere.

Malta has been through this demographic phenomenon, before but the EY Generate Youth Survey which found that 77% of Millennials and 72% of Gen-Z would rather live outside of Malta laid bare that it’s biggest challenge is yet to come.

President Emeritus Marie Louise Coleiro Preca in an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday was asked about this, and she explained the danger of such a demographic shift very succinctly.

"It worries me a lot, because if the situation will continue in this manner, then I think that Malta will end up (being) one big elderly home," she said.

Aside from meaning a brain drain for the country, she said Malta doesn't have a high number of births. "We have the lowest birth rate in Europe."

"I'm not saying that youths shouldn't experience going abroad,” she said. Young people should learn that Malta is not the centre of the world. She supports the idea of youths experiencing life abroad, for them to realise that the world is far bigger than Malta and come back with innovative ideas. "But having youths aspiring to emigrate and not return to the country is very worrying. That’s a brain drain.”

The survey read that better employment was a top-scoring factor for both generations in their consideration as to where they would prefer to live. Other issues like Malta’s size and being in a quieter space were also mentioned.

Asked what could be done to solve these issues, the former President said she believes “we need to be creative, look at what we want to do with our country.”

Looking at what we want to do with our country is at the core of this argument.

As things stand the direction of the country is to favour and even reward the philosophy of obtaining profits above all else.  The fact that these profits may come from sustaining the low wages which are prevalent in the country and from gobbling up more and more of the little environment that Malta has left appears to be secondary.

So then who can blame young people for wanting to seek greener pastures elsewhere?  Why would they constrain themselves to a country which seems content to destroy every inch of its natural environment, and seems perfectly fine with offering comparatively low wages when being part of the European Union makes it easy for them to relocate to somewhere which can offer a better quality of life.

Much is always made about the results of these surveys.  Many of older generations at times seem to blame millennials or Gen Zs themselves for wanting to leave; describing them as soft – or rather, as ‘snowflakes’, who want everything their own way and who would rather not lift a finger.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth. It takes a certain degree of courage to take the drastic step of moving to a different country in order to attain a better quality of life.

The solution to stop this brain drain from happening is simple: make Malta a better place to live in.