By Ashveen Kutowaroo FCG PMP® LLM MSc
Founder and Policy Advocate, JP Narayan Centre for Sustainable Development and World Peace
The launch of the World Bank’s Mauritius Country Growth and Jobs Report should make us reflect, not because the report predicts the end of Mauritius, but because it describes a country approaching a difficult demographic and economic crossroads. We have spent decades discussing growth, investment, infrastructure and employment. We now need to ask a more uncomfortable question: who will be here to drive the economy in the years ahead?
Mauritius is ageing. The World Bank notes that people aged 65 and above represented 14 per cent of the population in 2024 and are projected to reach about 19 per cent by 2033. At the same time, the working-age share is expected to fall from 70 per cent to 66 per cent. This is not merely a demographic statistic. It affects pensions, healthcare, productivity, taxation, businesses and the ability of the country to sustain the standard of living to which Mauritians have become accustomed.
But there is another side to the demographic story. Mauritians are leaving.
Walk into any family gathering, school reunion, university class or professional network and the conversation is familiar. Someone has a child in Canada. Another is in Australia. A former colleague is in France. A graduate is working in Britain. Others have gone to Dubai, Europe, Africa or the cruise industry. For many young Mauritians, emigration is no longer an extraordinary decision. It has become a normal option.
The World Bank itself identifies a net outflow of skilled Mauritians, particularly in ICT and other innovative sectors. Professionals are leaving for better career prospects, higher incomes and quality of life. That is a powerful message. If our best trained people believe their future is brighter elsewhere, the issue is not simply that they are leaving. The issue is why they feel they should leave.
At the same time, Mauritius is increasingly dependent on workers from abroad. Workers from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Madagascar and other countries are now visible across manufacturing, construction, hospitality, domestic services and other sectors. This is not necessarily a problem. Foreign workers have always contributed to Mauritius, and an open economy cannot realistically close its doors to international talent. Indeed, the World Bank argues that Mauritius has not yet fully tapped the global talent pool.
The problem is the pattern.
This is an economic question, but also one of national confidence and social cohesion.
The report states that 64 per cent of work permits in 2023 went to manufacturing, while less than 1 per cent went to innovation services. In other words, international recruitment is helping us fill low-skilled labour shortages, but it is not yet doing enough to supply the advanced capabilities needed for the next stage of the economy.
This creates a paradox. Mauritius can have unemployed young people, firms saying they cannot find workers, and employers recruiting foreigners at the same time. These statements are not necessarily contradictory. They describe different parts of the same broken connection between education, skills, wages, expectations and available jobs.
The World Bank reports that 55.3 per cent of firms surveyed identified lack of skilled labour as their main reason for not hiring. Employers also report difficulties finding problem-solving ability, leadership and work ethic. Mauritius faces an estimated annual shortage of 5,000 IT professionals, particularly in artificial intelligence, data science and cybersecurity.
Yet our young people are not simply sitting idle because they are unwilling to contribute. The report points to a deeper problem. Youth can leave higher education without the technical and soft skills employers expect. Career guidance is limited. Technical and vocational education can carry social stigma. Entry-level wages can appear unattractive when measured against the cost of living. Some young people therefore wait, retrain, pursue another qualification or look overseas.
We must also confront an uncomfortable cultural reality. For generations, success in Mauritius has often been measured by academic qualifications and secure employment. We have encouraged young people to obtain degrees, but we have not always built an economy capable of giving those qualifications meaningful local opportunities. A degree should not be a ticket to emigration.
Nor should vocational work be treated as a second-class path.
A country of our size cannot afford to have highly educated young people outside employment while businesses import people to perform jobs that Mauritians once filled. Neither can we afford to assume that every foreign worker is taking a job that would otherwise go to a Mauritian. In many cases, the vacancy exists because the local labour supply, skills, expectations or working conditions do not match what the employer needs.
The answer is therefore not to blame the migrant worker. Nor is it to blame the Mauritian worker.
We need to fix the system connecting the two.
The first priority must be to make working and building a career in Mauritius sufficiently attractive for Mauritians to stay. That means more than increasing salaries. It means productive companies, opportunities for advancement, credible meritocracy, better management, flexible working arrangements and an economy that rewards skills. People do not leave only because of a payslip. They leave when they believe their future is limited.
The second priority is skills. The World Bank recommends stronger digital skills programmes, micro-credentials and targeted training in AI, data science and cybersecurity, alongside broader soft skills. This should not become another policy document sitting on a shelf. Training must be designed with employers and reviewed against actual vacancies. We need to know which skills Mauritius will require in five, ten and twenty years, and then build the education and training pipeline accordingly.
The third priority is to bring more Mauritians into the workforce. Female participation is particularly important. Only 51 per cent of women participate in the labour force, compared with about 78 per cent of men. Nearly 60 per cent of women outside the labour market cite household and family responsibilities as the main reason. Affordable childcare, flexible working arrangements and better workplace practices are therefore economic policies, not merely social policies.
The fourth priority is to make migration strategic.
Mauritius should not see foreign workers only as people who fill vacancies. We should also attract people who bring knowledge, technology, entrepreneurship, investment and international networks. If Singapore can use international talent to strengthen its economy, Mauritius should be able to design its own carefully managed model.
But international recruitment must go hand in hand with local capability building. A foreign engineer, doctor, software specialist or technician should not merely occupy a position. The system should encourage knowledge transfer, mentoring and the development of Mauritian successors wherever practical.
There is also a bigger question about what kind of economy we want.
The World Bank says Mauritius needs a third wave of growth based on higher-value activities, especially modern services. That means moving beyond an economic model dependent on relatively low-cost labour. It means building capacity in digital services, financial innovation, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and other knowledge-intensive sectors. It means making Mauritius a place where a young person can imagine a global career without necessarily leaving the island.
Technology gives us an opportunity that previous generations did not have. A Mauritian does not necessarily have to live in London, Toronto or Melbourne to work for a global company. Digital services can allow a person in Mauritius to sell expertise to the world. But that requires reliable infrastructure, advanced skills, competitive firms, digital trust and an environment in which entrepreneurship is possible.
The report is also clear that implementation matters. Mauritius has produced many strategies and visions. The challenge has often been turning them into sustained action, measurable outcomes and accountability. Demography does not wait for an election cycle.
Nor should this become a debate between governments, parties or generations. The demographic challenge belongs to all of us. Previous governments made choices that shaped today’s economy. The present government will make choices that shape tomorrow’s economy. Future governments will inherit the consequences. The sensible response is therefore continuity where continuity is needed, reform where reform is necessary, and accountability throughout.
We also need to change the way we speak about young Mauritians. They are not a problem to be retained. They are citizens with choices. If Canada, France, Australia, Britain and global employers offer them opportunities, we should not be surprised when they respond. The real test of Mauritius is whether we can offer an alternative compelling enough for at least some of them to stay, return or build businesses here.
The same principle applies to those already abroad. Mauritius should not regard its diaspora simply as people who left. They are a national asset. Their experience, networks, capital and skills can contribute to the country if we create meaningful channels for engagement, investment, remote work, mentorship and eventual return.
The choice before Mauritius is not between Mauritians and foreigners. It is between an economy that continually replaces its people and an economy that develops, attracts and retains talent.
We will always need international workers. A successful Mauritius will remain open to them. But we should not reach a point where importing labour becomes easier than fixing the reasons Mauritians are unwilling or unable to take available jobs.
The World Bank report gives us the numbers. Our streets, families and workplaces give us the human story. The two stories are saying much the same thing.
Mauritius is not running out of people overnight. It is, however, running out of time to respond to an ageing population, a shrinking working-age share, skilled emigration, low participation and persistent skills mismatches.
The question is no longer simply how many jobs we can create.
It is whether we can create a Mauritius in which our children believe that the grass is not necessarily greener elsewhere.
That should be one of the defining national questions of the next decade.
