This was the indication given by former legislator Dr Kedrick Pickering when he spoke with residents at a political meeting in North Sound, Virgin Gorda last week.

But according to the former Deputy Premier, this can all be changed if a suitably receptive environment is created for youths of the territory to return and thrive.

“We are losing a lot of our young people because they are going away to study and they are not coming back. That’s not good for us,” Dr Pickering stated.

And while stopping short of categorising the issue as a proverbial ‘brain drain’, the former legislator said the territory needs to find ways of ensuring other places are not benefitting from the territory’s youths once they have completed their education.

“We want to benefit from them but we’ve got to create an environment here in the BVI that makes them want to come back home; that makes them feel comfortable and welcome when they come back,” he said.

According to Dr Pickering, youths need to be shown that there is a brighter future that will allow them to build a family once they return home from their studies abroad.

Dr Pickering suggested that one of the solutions to the challenge is to build better public-private partnerships. “We have some of the wealthiest people around us here. We must engage them in ideas on how best to create opportunities,” the former legislator argued.

He further said the current generation is more educated than the previous one and is looking for bigger opportunities as a result of this. “We must create that environment that will ultimately make them want to be here,” he added.