From January 2018 until August 2025, 114,000 Fijian residents have travelled out of the country for better employment opportunities, education, and other opportunities, representing about 12 percent of Fiji's population.
This was revealed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad when questioned by Opposition MP Alvick Maharaj about what new incentives or scholarship programmes the Government will introduce to retain professionals in key sectors like healthcare and engineering.
He says the issue of skilled labour shortages is not something new; in fact, for more than a decade, we have seen a steady flow of our skilled workers drawn abroad by better salaries, educational opportunities, healthcare access, and a lucrative lifestyle.
Professor Prasad says if this trend continues, we will face further shortages.
The Deputy Prime Minister says that while migration may be one factor, we need to admit that Fiji is also facing demographic challenges with its population growth.
He adds that another factor is the significant decline in fertility and birth rates over the past decades, and according to the World Bank estimates, the total fertility rate in 2023 stands at approximately 2.3 births per woman.
He further added that this marks a dramatic drop from about four births per woman in the 1980s.
The Minister blamed the leadership of the previous government for the low number of skilled workers in the country, as they were the ones who closed down all technical colleges.
Professor Prasad says they have expanded scholarships, support for medical, nursing, engineering, and technical fields, and they will continue to incentivise the critical areas of labour and skill shortage.
He says they have reopened 29 vocational schools and expanded apprenticeship programmes, where these reforms are designed to address the longstanding skill shortage in critical sectors.
Speaking on scholarships, the Finance Minister highlighted that the government has introduced the merit-based scholarship scheme which includes 11,593 continuing students and 13,000 new students. When asked by Maharaj what is the Minister or the government doing in terms of increasing the number of intakes at FNU as they can only do intakes for 12 or 15 per year, Professor Prasad says they have provided additional grants to the Sangam School of Nursing, and the University of Fiji, and they are saying to them that more scholarships will be available so that they can train more nurses that are needed in other areas.
Professor Prasad also pointed out the recent statement by the Leader of Opposition Inia Seruiratu, where he referred to a growing number of Indo-Fijians migrating overseas when the coalition government came into power.
A point of order was raised by Opposition MP Jone Usamate, saying that the Deputy Prime Minister is deviating from the topic; however, the Speaker Filimone Jitoko told Usamate that he does not agree with him.
Professor Prasad also highlighted the number of people who left the country under the categories of migration, employment, and education from 2010 to 2024, and asked if the Bainimarama government was chasing away people at that time.
He also asked the Leader of the Opposition to withdraw and remove his statement from his Facebook account.
Seruiratu then asked if the government had conducted a proper audit.
Professor Prasad says there has been work done, and the Bureau of Statistics, with the Ministry of Trade, is doing a skills shortage survey, and they are hoping to get a more recent assessment of where we are and how many people we need to get from overseas.
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