View source for Human capital flight

{{short description|Emigration of highly skilled or well-educated individuals}}
{{Redirect|Brain drain}}
[[File:Albert Einstein 1921 by F Schmutzer.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Theoretical physicist [[Albert Einstein]], who emigrated to the [[United States]] to escape [[Nazi Germany|Nazi persecution]], is an example of human capital flight as a result of political change.]]
'''Human capital flight''' is the [[emigration]] or [[immigration]] of individuals who have received advanced training in their home country. The net benefits of human capital flight for the receiving country are sometimes referred to as a "'''brain gain'''" whereas the net costs for the sending country are sometimes referred to as a "'''brain drain'''".<ref>{{cite web
 | url =https://fpif.org/brain-drain-politics-immigration/
 | title =Brain Drain and the Politics of Immigration
 | last =Baptiste
 | first =Nathalie
 | date =25 February 2014
 | website =Foreign Policy In Focus
 | publisher =[[Institute for Policy Studies]]
 | access-date =15 June 2018
 | quote =The migration of highly skilled workers can pay dividends for immigrants and their employers, but it produces losers as well. }}</ref> In occupations with a surplus of graduates, immigration of foreign-trained professionals can aggravate the [[underemployment]] of domestic graduates,<ref>{{cite web
 | url =http://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Final-March-8-Australias-skilled-migration-program.pdf
 | title =Australia's Skilled Migration Program: Scarce Skills Not Required
 | last =Birrell
 | first =Bob
 | date =8 March 2016
 | website =The Australian Population Research Institute
 | publisher =Monash University
 | access-date =15 June 2018
 | archive-date =15 March 2018
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20180315003733/http://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Final-March-8-Australias-skilled-migration-program.pdf
 | url-status =live
 }}</ref> whereas emigration from an area with a surplus of trained people leads to better opportunities for those remaining. However, emigration may cause problems for the home country if trained people are in short supply there.

Research shows that there are significant economic benefits of human capital flight for the migrants themselves and for the receiving country.<ref name=":7"/><ref name="Andreas">{{Cite web|last1=Andreas|first1=Willenbockel, Dirk|last2=Sia|first2=Go, Delfin|last3=Amer|first3=Ahmed, S.|date=11 April 2016|title=Global migration revisited: short-term pains, long-term gains, and the potential of south-south migration|url=http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/04/26208170/global-migration-revisited-short-term-pains-long-term-gains-potential-south-south-migration|access-date=3 July 2016|archive-date=3 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503090538/http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/04/26208170/global-migration-revisited-short-term-pains-long-term-gains-potential-south-south-migration|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_24_16.pdf|title=The Gain from the Drain – Skill-biased Migration and Global Welfare|access-date=2016-10-14|archive-date=2023-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501183903/https://www.cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_24_16.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Hillel|first=Rapoport|date=20 September 2016|title=Migration and globalization: what's in it for developing countries?|journal=International Journal of Manpower|volume=37|issue=7|pages=1209–1226|doi=10.1108/IJM-08-2015-0116|issn=0143-7720|hdl=10419/145243|s2cid=4931047|url=https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10109|hdl-access=free|archive-date=29 December 2022|access-date=2 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229140934/https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10109|url-status=live}}</ref> The consequences for the country of origin are less straightforward, with research suggesting they can be positive,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tomohara |first1=A. |date=2020 |title=Do migration networks worsen trade deficit? Evidence from the United States and Germany |journal=World Economy |volume=44 |issue=6 |pages=1720–1739 | doi=10.1111/twec.13042|s2cid=224975874 }}</ref><ref name=":10"/><ref name="Shrestha 495–521">{{Cite journal|last=Shrestha|first=Slesh A.|date=1 April 2016|title=No Man Left Behind: Effects of Emigration Prospects on Educational and Labour Outcomes of Non-migrants |journal=The Economic Journal|volume=127|issue=600|pages=495–521|doi=10.1111/ecoj.12306|s2cid=154362034|issn=1468-0297}}</ref><ref name="Beine 631–652">{{Cite journal|last1=Beine|first1=Michel|last2=Docquier|first2=Fréderic|last3=Rapoport|first3=Hillel|date=1 April 2008|title=Brain Drain and Human Capital Formation in Developing Countries: Winners and Losers|journal=The Economic Journal|volume=118|issue=528|pages=631–652|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02135.x|issn=1468-0297|hdl=2078.1/5768|s2cid=28988486|url=http://sites.uclouvain.be/econ/DP/IRES/2006-23.pdf|archive-date=17 March 2023|access-date=5 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317154038/https://sites.uclouvain.be/econ/DP/IRES/2006-23.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Dinkelman 2016 1–35">{{Cite journal |first1=Taryn |last1=Dinkelman |first2=Martine |last2=Mariotti |year=2016 |title=The Long-Run Effects of Labor Migration on Human Capital Formation in Communities of Origin |journal=American Economic Journal: Applied Economics |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=1–35 |doi=10.1257/app.20150405 |s2cid=5140105 |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w22049.pdf |archive-date=2023-04-22 |access-date=2019-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422215737/https://www.nber.org/papers/w22049.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Batista 32–45">{{Cite journal|last1=Batista|first1=Catia|last2=Lacuesta|first2=Aitor|last3=Vicente|first3=Pedro C.|date=1 January 2012|title=Testing the 'brain gain' hypothesis: Micro evidence from Cape Verde|journal=Journal of Development Economics|volume=97|issue=1|pages=32–45|doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.01.005|hdl=10419/44193|s2cid=4489444|url=https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5048|hdl-access=free|archive-date=29 December 2022|access-date=2 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229140931/https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5048|url-status=live}}</ref> negative<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Collier|first=P.|date=2004-12-01|title=Africa's Exodus: Capital Flight and the Brain Drain as Portfolio Decisions|journal=Journal of African Economies|volume=13|issue=suppl_2|pages=ii15–ii54|doi=10.1093/jae/ejh042|issn=1464-3723}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last1=Bhargava|first1=Alok|last2=Docquier|first2=Frédéric|date=2008-01-01|title=HIV Pandemic, Medical Brain Drain, and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa|journal=The World Bank Economic Review|volume=22|issue=2|pages=345–366|doi=10.1093/wber/lhn005|issn=1564-698X|hdl=10986/4483|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Quamruzzaman|first=Amm|date=December 2020|title=Exploring the Impact of Medical Brain Drain on Child Health in 188 Countries over 2000–2015|journal=Societies|language=en|volume=10|issue=4|page=73|doi=10.3390/soc10040073|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chibango|first=Conrad|date=2013-06-01|title=Zimbabwe's Medical Brain Drain: Impact Assessment on Health Service Delivery and Examination of Policy Responses: A Literature Review|journal=European Journal of Sustainable Development|volume=2|issue=2|pages=43–58|doi=10.14207/ejsd.2013.v2n2p43|issn=2239-5938|doi-access=free|bibcode=2013EJSD....2...43C }}</ref> or mixed.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Docquier|first1=Frédéric|last2=Rapoport|first2=Hillel|date=2009-12-01|title=Documenting the Brain Drain of "La Crème de la Crème"|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jbnst-2009-0603/html|journal=Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik|language=de|volume=229|issue=6|pages=679–705|doi=10.1515/jbnst-2009-0603|s2cid=55779929|issn=2366-049X|archive-date=2021-08-10|access-date=2021-08-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810232853/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jbnst-2009-0603/html|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Li|first1=Xiaoyang|last2=McHale|first2=John|last3=Zhou|first3=Xuan|date=2017|title=Does Brain Drain Lead to Institutional Gain?|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/twec.12407|journal=The World Economy|language=en|volume=40|issue=7|pages=1454–1472|doi=10.1111/twec.12407|s2cid=21402169|issn=1467-9701|archive-date=2021-08-10|access-date=2021-08-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810232855/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/twec.12407|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chauvet|first1=Lisa|last2=Gubert|first2=Flore|last3=Mesplé-Somps|first3=Sandrine|date=2013-06-01|title=Aid, Remittances, Medical Brain Drain and Child Mortality: Evidence Using Inter and Intra-Country Data|journal=The Journal of Development Studies|volume=49|issue=6|pages=801–818|doi=10.1080/00220388.2012.742508|s2cid=154221637|issn=0022-0388}}</ref> Research also suggests that emigration,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ivlevs |first1=Artjoms |last2=King |first2=Roswitha M. |title=Does emigration reduce corruption? |journal=Public Choice |volume=171 |issue=3–4 |pages=389–408 |doi=10.1007/s11127-017-0442-z |year=2017 |doi-access=free |hdl=11250/2567236 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> [[remittance]]s and return migration<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burgess |first1=Katrina |title=Migrants, Remittances, and Politics: Loyalty and Voice after Exit |journal=The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs |date=2012 |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=43–55 |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/579fc2ad725e253a86230610/t/57ec80ff414fb5bf1aa95750/1475117316252/Burgess_36-1.pdf |archive-date=2018-08-31 |access-date=2018-08-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831073950/https://static1.squarespace.com/static/579fc2ad725e253a86230610/t/57ec80ff414fb5bf1aa95750/1475117316252/Burgess_36-1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> can have a positive effect on [[democratization]] and on the quality of political institutions in the country of origin.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite journal|title=The Effect of Labor Migration on the Diffusion of Democracy: Evidence from a Former Soviet Republic|journal=American Economic Journal: Applied Economics|volume=9|issue=3|page=36|doi=10.1257/app.20150517|year=2017|last1=Barsbai|first1=Toman|last2=Rapoport|first2=Hillel|last3=Steinmayr|first3=Andreas|last4=Trebesch|first4=Christoph|hdl=10419/83491|s2cid=4973898|url=http://www.cepii.fr/PDF_PUB/wp/2016/wp2016-26.pdf|doi-access=free|archive-date=2018-04-13|access-date=2019-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413144036/http://www.cepii.fr/PDF_PUB/wp/2016/wp2016-26.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lodigiani |first1=Elisabetta |title=The effect of emigration on home-country political institutions |url=https://wol.iza.org/articles/effect-of-emigration-on-home-country-political-institutions/long |journal=IZA World of Labor |doi=10.15185/izawol.307 |year=2016 |doi-access=free |hdl=11577/3215973 |hdl-access=free |archive-date=2018-08-31 |access-date=2018-08-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831072846/https://wol.iza.org/articles/effect-of-emigration-on-home-country-political-institutions/long |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meseguer |first1=C. |last2=Burgess |first2=K. |title=International Migration and Home Country Politics |journal=Studies in Comparative International Development |date=2014 |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |issn=1936-6167|doi=10.1007/s12116-014-9149-z |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Docquier |first1=Frédéric |last2=Lodigiani |first2=Elisabetta |last3=Rapoport |first3=Hillel |last4=Schiff |first4=Maurice |title=Emigration and democracy |url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/96047/1/654920451.pdf |publisher=Bar-Ilan University |access-date=2018-08-31 |archive-date=2018-08-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831074929/https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/96047/1/654920451.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Types ==

There are several types of human capital flight:
* '''Organizational:''' The flight of talented, creative and highly qualified employees from large corporations that occurs when employees perceive the direction and leadership of the company to be regressive, unstable or stagnant, and thus unable to satisfy their personal and professional ambitions.
* '''Geographical:''' The flight of highly trained individuals and college graduates from their area of residence.
* '''Industrial:''' The movement of traditionally skilled workers from one sector of an industry to another.

As with other [[human migration]], the social environment is often considered to be a key reason for this population shift. In ''source'' countries, lack of opportunities, political instability or oppression, economic depression, health risks and more (''push'' factors)<ref name="dodani">{{cite journal | last1 = Dodani | first1 = Sunita |author-link1=Sunita Dodani | last2 = LaPorte | first2 = Ronald E | date = Nov 2005 | title = Brain drain from developing countries: how can brain drain be converted into wisdom gain? | journal = J R Soc Med | volume = 98 | issue = 11| pages = 487–491 | doi = 10.1177/014107680509801107 | pmc = 1275994 | pmid = 16260795 }}</ref> contribute to human capital flight, whereas ''host'' countries usually offer rich opportunities, political stability and freedom, a developed economy and better living conditions (''pull'' factors)<ref name="dodani"/> that attract talent. At the individual level, family influences (relatives living overseas, for example), as well as personal preferences, career ambitions and other motivating factors, can be considered.

== Origins and uses ==
The term "brain drain" was coined by the [[Royal Society]] to describe the emigration of "[[scientist]]s and technologists" to [[North America]] from post–[[World War II]] [[Europe]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/673/The_brain_drain:_Old_myths,_new_realities.html |title=The brain drain: Old myths, new realities |work=OECD Observer |date=January 2002 |first1=Mario |last1=Cervantes |first2=Dominique |last2=Guellec |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2010-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209004551/http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/673/The_brain_drain:_Old_myths,_new_realities.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Another source indicates that this term was first used in the United Kingdom to describe the influx of Indian scientists and engineers.<ref>Joel Spring. ''Globalization of Education: an introduction''. First published 2009, by Routledge, 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016, pp185</ref> Although the term originally referred to technology workers leaving a nation, the meaning has broadened into "the departure of educated or professional people from one country, economic sector, or field for another, usually for better pay or living conditions".<ref name="MW">"Brain drain – Definition and More", Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2010, web: [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brain+drain MW-b] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023070345/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brain%20drain |date=2012-10-23 }}.</ref>

Brain drain is a phenomenon where, relative to the remaining population, a substantial number of more educated (numerate, literate) persons emigrate.<ref name="cream.conference-services.net">Yvonne Stolz and Joerg Baten [http://cream.conference-services.net/resources/952/2371/pdf/MECSC2011_0299_paper.pdf "Brain Drain, Numeracy and Skill Premia during the Era of Mass Migration: Testing the Roy-Borjas Model"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410201646/http://cream.conference-services.net/resources/952/2371/pdf/MECSC2011_0299_paper.pdf |date=2022-04-10 }}</ref>

Given that the term "brain drain", as frequently used, implies that skilled emigration is bad for the country of origin, some scholars recommend against using the term in favor of more neutral and scientific alternative terms.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://www.fsmevents.com/csae/2015/session11/|title = CSAE Conference 2015 Plenary 3: Migration and Labour Mobility|last = Clemens|first = Michael|date = 2015|journal = Starts at 19:35|access-date = 2015-09-19|archive-date = 2023-04-05|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230405081344/https://www.fsmevents.com/csae/2015/session11/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Why It's Time to Drop the 'Brain Drain' Refrain|url = http://www.cgdev.org/blog/why-its-time-drop-brain-drain-refrain|access-date = 2015-09-19|last = Clemens|first = Michael | work=Center For Global Development }}</ref>

== Effects ==
The positive effects of human capital flight are sometimes referred to as "brain gain" whereas the negative effects are sometimes referred to as "brain drain". According to economist [[Michael Clemens]], it has not been shown that restrictions on high-skill emigration reduce shortages in the countries of origin.<ref name="Clemens">{{Cite journal|last=Clemens|first=Michael|title=Smart policy toward high-skill emigrants|url=http://wol.iza.org/articles/smart-policy-toward-high-skill-emigrants|journal=IZA World of Labor|doi=10.15185/izawol.203|year=2015|doi-access=free|archive-date=2023-03-18|access-date=2015-12-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318135933/http://wol.iza.org/articles/smart-policy-toward-high-skill-emigrants|url-status=live}}</ref> According to development economist Justin Sandefur, "there is no study out there... showing any empirical evidence that migration restrictions have contributed to development."<ref name="oxfamblogs.org">{{Cite web|url=http://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/migration-and-development-who-bears-the-burden-of-proof-justin-sandefur-replies-to-paul-collier-2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320232739/http://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/migration-and-development-who-bears-the-burden-of-proof-justin-sandefur-replies-to-paul-collier-2/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 20, 2014|title=Migration and Development: Who Bears the Burden of Proof? Justin Sandefur replies to Paul Collier {{!}} From Poverty to Power|website=oxfamblogs.org|access-date=2016-07-03}}</ref> Hein de Haas, Professor of Sociology at the [[University of Amsterdam]], describes the brain drain as a "myth",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/eight-myths-about-migration-and-refugees-explained-a-1138053.html|title=Myths of Migration: Much of What We Think We Know Is Wrong |last=de Haas|first=Hein|website=Der Spiegel |date=21 March 2017|access-date=29 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=de Haas|first=Hein |date=1 November 2005|title=International migration, remittances and development: myths and facts|journal=Third World Quarterly|volume=26|issue=8|pages=1269–1284|doi=10.1080/01436590500336757|issn=0143-6597|citeseerx=10.1.1.371.1384|s2cid=219624317 }}</ref> whilst political philosopher Adam James Tebble argues that more open borders aid both the economic and institutional development of poorer migrant sending countries, contrary to proponents of "brain-drain" critiques of migration.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tebble |first=A. J. |year=2020 |title=More open borders for those left behind |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1468796819866351 |journal=Ethnicities |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=353–379 |doi=10.1177/1468796819866351 |s2cid=201379256 |archive-date=2022-10-17 |access-date=2021-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017160822/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1468796819866351 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tebble |first=A. J. |year=2019 |title=More open borders and deep structural transformation |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13698230.2019.1565566?journalCode=fcri20& |journal=Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=510–531 |doi=10.1080/13698230.2019.1565566 |s2cid=149734726 |archive-date=2022-10-17 |access-date=2021-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017160822/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13698230.2019.1565566?journalCode=fcri20& |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, according to [[UCLouvain|University of Louvain]] (UCLouvain) economist Frederic Docquier, human capital flight has an adverse effect on most developing countries, even if it can be beneficial for some developing countries.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Docquier|first=Frédéric|date=1 May 2014|title=The brain drain from developing countries|url=https://wol.iza.org/articles/brain-drain-from-developing-countries/long|journal=IZA World of Labor|doi=10.15185/izawol.31|doi-access=free|hdl=2078.1/152153|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Whether a country experiences a "brain gain" or "brain drain" depends on factors such as composition of migration, level of development, and demographic aspects including its population size, language and geographic location.<ref name=":3"/>

=== Economic effects ===
Some research suggests that migration (both low- and high-skilled) is beneficial both to the receiving and exporting countries,<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last1=di Giovanni|first1=Julian|last2=Levchenko|first2=Andrei A.|last3=Ortega|first3=Francesc|date=1 February 2015|title=A Global View of Cross-Border Migration|journal=Journal of the European Economic Association|volume=13|issue=1|pages=168–202|doi=10.1111/jeea.12110|issn=1542-4774|hdl=10230/22196|s2cid=3465938|url=http://www.fordschool.umich.edu/rsie/workingpapers/Papers626-650/r627.pdf|hdl-access=free|archive-date=29 December 2022|access-date=10 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229144705/https://fordschool.umich.edu/rsie/workingpapers/Papers626-650/r627.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Andreas"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite SSRN|last1=Khanna|first1=Gaurav|last2=Morales|first2=Nicolas|date=30 April 2017|title=The IT Boom and Other Unintended Consequences of Chasing the American Dream|ssrn=2968147}}{{s2cid|157672756}}</ref><ref name="auto2"/> while other research suggests detrimental effect on the country of origin.<ref name="Beine 631–652"/><ref name=":6"/> According to one study, welfare increases in both types of countries: "welfare impact of observed levels of migration is substantial, at about 5% to 10% for the main receiving countries and about 10% in countries with large incoming remittances".<ref name=":7"/> According to economists Michael Clemens and [[Lant Pritchett|Lant Pratchett]], "permitting people to move from low-productivity places to high-productivity places appears to be by far the most efficient generalized policy tool, at the margin, for poverty reduction".<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |first1=Michael A. |last1=Clemens |first2=Lant |last2=Pritchett |title=The New Economic Case for Migration Restrictions: An Assessment |journal=IZA Discussion Paper No. 9730 |date=February 2016 |ssrn=2731993 }}</ref> A successful two-year [[in situ]] anti-poverty program, for instance, helps poor people make in a year what is the equivalent of working one day in the developed world.<ref name=":8"/> Research on a migration lottery that allowed Tongans to move to New Zealand found that the lottery winners saw a 263% increase in income from migrating (after only one year in New Zealand) relative to the unsuccessful lottery entrants.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=McKenzie|first1=David|last2=Stillman|first2=Steven|last3=Gibson|first3=John|date=1 June 2010|title=How Important is Selection? Experimental VS. Non-Experimental Measures of the Income Gains from Migration |journal=Journal of the European Economic Association|volume=8|issue=4|pages=913–945|doi=10.1111/j.1542-4774.2010.tb00544.x|issn=1542-4774|hdl=10289/1638|s2cid=14629302|url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/292857/files/06_02.pdf}}</ref> A 2017 study of Mexican immigrant households in the United States found that by virtue of moving to the United States, the households increase their incomes more than fivefold immediately.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal|last=Gove|first=Michael|date=18 April 2017|title=Migration as Development: Household Survey Evidence on Migrants' Wage Gains |journal=Social Indicators Research|volume=137|issue=3|pages=1033–1060|doi=10.1007/s11205-017-1630-4|s2cid=157541486|issn=0303-8300}}</ref> The study also found that the "average gains accruing to migrants surpass those of even the most successful current programs of economic development."<ref name=":02"/> A 2024 study found that EU migration to the United States had adverse effects on EU productivity in the short-term but positive long-term effects through productivity spillover effects.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Prato |first=Marta |date=2024 |title=The Global Race for Talent: Brain Drain, Knowledge Transfer, and Growth |journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=140 |pages=165–238 |doi=10.1093/qje/qjae040}}</ref>

[[Remittance]]s increase living standards in the country of origin. Remittances are a large share of GDP in many developing countries,<ref name="Ratha 2012 1–3">{{cite journal|last=Ratha|first=Dilip|year=2012|title=Remittance flows in 2011|url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/334934-1110315015165/MigrationandDevelopmentBrief18.pdf|journal=Migration and Development Brief –Migration and Remittances Unit, the World Bank|volume=18|pages=1–3|author2=Silwal|archive-date=2012-09-16|access-date=2012-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916022039/http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/334934-1110315015165/MigrationandDevelopmentBrief18.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/global-remittances-guide|title=Global Remittances Guide|date=31 July 2013|website=migrationpolicy.org|access-date=2016-06-06|archive-date=2016-05-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517134939/http://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/global-remittances-guide?|url-status=live}}</ref> and have been shown to increase the wellbeing of receiving families.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mergo|first=Teferi|date=1 August 2016|title=The Effects of International Migration on Migrant-Source Households: Evidence from Ethiopian Diversity-Visa Lottery Migrants |journal=World Development|volume=84|pages=69–81|doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.04.001}}</ref> In the case of Haiti, the 670,000 adult Haitians living in the OECD sent home about $1,700 per migrant per year, well over double Haiti's $670 per capita GDP.<ref name="oxfamblogs.org"/> A study on remittances to Mexico found that remittances lead to a substantial increase in the availability of public services in Mexico, surpassing government spending in some localities.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Adida|first1=Claire L.|last2=Girod|first2=Desha M.|date=1 January 2011|title=Do Migrants Improve Their Hometowns? Remittances and Access to Public Services in Mexico, 1995-2000 |journal=Comparative Political Studies|volume=44|issue=1|pages=3–27|doi=10.1177/0010414010381073|ssrn=1750397 |s2cid=154767019|issn=0010-4140}}</ref> A 2017 study found that remittances can significantly alleviate poverty after natural disasters.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mbaye|first1=Linguère Mously|last2=Drabo|first2=Alassane|date=1 December 2017|title=Natural Disasters and Poverty Reduction: Do Remittances Matter?|journal=CESifo Economic Studies|volume=63|issue=4|pages=481–499|doi=10.1093/cesifo/ifx016|issn=1610-241X}}</ref> Research shows that more educated and higher earning emigrants remit more.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bollard|first1=Albert|last2=McKenzie|first2=David|last3=Morten|first3=Melanie|last4=Rapoport|first4=Hillel|date=1 January 2011|title=Remittances and the Brain Drain Revisited: The Microdata Show That More Educated Migrants Remit More|url=https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/wbecrv/v25y2011i1p132-156.html|journal=World Bank Economic Review|volume=25|issue=1|pages=132–156|doi=10.1093/wber/lhr013|hdl=10419/36282|s2cid=52261006|hdl-access=free|archive-date=16 August 2016|access-date=3 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816154256/https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/wbecrv/v25y2011i1p132-156.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Some research shows that the remittance effect is not strong enough to make the remaining natives in countries with high emigration flows better off.<ref name=":7"/> A 2016 [[NBER]] paper suggests that emigration from Italy due to the [[2008 financial crisis]] reduced political change in Italy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anelli |first1=Massimo |last2=Peri |first2=Giovanni |date=2017 |title=Does Emigration Delay Political Change? Evidence from Italy during the Great Recession |journal=Economic Policy |volume=32 |issue=91 |pages=551–596 |doi=10.1093/epolic/eix006 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[Voluntary return|Return migration]] can also be a boost to the economy of developing states, as the migrants bring back newly acquired skills, savings and assets.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wahba|first=Jackline|date=1 February 2015|title=Who benefits from return migration to developing countries?|url=https://wol.iza.org/articles/who-benefits-from-return-migration-to-developing-countries/long|journal=IZA World of Labor|doi=10.15185/izawol.123|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}</ref> A study of Yugoslav refugees during the [[Yugoslav Wars]] of the early 1990s found that citizens of former Yugoslavia who were allowed temporary stays in Germany brought back skills, knowledge and technologies to their home countries when they returned home in 1995 (after the [[Dayton Agreement|Dayton accords]]), leading to greater productivity and export performance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/12412/migration-and-post-conflict-reconstruction-the-effect-of-returning-refugees-on-export-performance-in-the-former-yugoslavia|title=Migration and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: The Effect of Returning Refugees on Export Performance in the Former Yugoslavia|website=iza.org|access-date=2019-06-24|archive-date=2019-06-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624143625/https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/12412/migration-and-post-conflict-reconstruction-the-effect-of-returning-refugees-on-export-performance-in-the-former-yugoslavia|url-status=live}}</ref>

Studies show that the elimination of barriers to migration would have profound effects on world GDP, with estimates of gains ranging between 67 and 147.3%.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Iregui|first=Ana Maria|date=1 January 2003|title=Efficiency Gains from the Elimination of Global Restrictions on Labour Mobility: An Analysis using a Multiregional CGE Model|journal=Wider Working Paper Series|url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/dp2003-27.html|archive-date=5 September 2019|access-date=3 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905222804/https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/dp2003-27.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Clemens|first=Michael A|date=1 August 2011|title=Economics and Emigration: Trillion-Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk?|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=25|issue=3|pages=83–106|doi=10.1257/jep.25.3.83|s2cid=59507836|issn=0895-3309|url=http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.25.3.83}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hamilton|first1=B.|last2=Whalley|first2=J.|date=1 February 1984|title=Efficiency and distributional implications of global restrictions on labour mobility: calculations and policy implications|journal=Journal of Development Economics|volume=14|issue=1–2|pages=61–75|doi=10.1016/0304-3878(84)90043-9|issn=0304-3878|pmid=12266702}}</ref> Research also finds that migration leads to greater trade in goods and services between the sending and receiving countries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.voxeu.org/article/cross-border-movement-persons-stimulates-trade|title=Cross-border movement of persons stimulates trade|last1=Aner|first1=Emilie|last2=Graneli|first2=Anna|date=14 October 2015|website=VoxEU.org|publisher=Centre for Economic Policy Research|last3=Lodefolk|first3=Magnus|access-date=19 October 2015|archive-date=1 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501183931/https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/cross-border-movement-persons-stimulates-trade|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bratti|first1=Massimiliano|last2=Benedictis|first2=Luca De|last3=Santoni|first3=Gianluca|date=18 April 2014|title=On the pro-trade effects of immigrants|url=https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/141126/1/wp13014.pdf|journal=Review of World Economics|volume=150|issue=3|pages=557–594|doi=10.1007/s10290-014-0191-8|hdl=11393/195448|s2cid=4981719|issn=1610-2878|hdl-access=free|archive-date=29 December 2022|access-date=1 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229144714/https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/141126/1/wp13014.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Foley |first1=C. Fritz |last2=Kerr |first2=William R. |title=Ethnic Innovation and U.S. Multinational Activity |journal=Management Science |volume=59 |issue=7 |pages=1529–1544 |year=2013 |doi=10.1287/mnsc.1120.1684|citeseerx=10.1.1.361.36 |s2cid=7275466 }}</ref> Using 130 years of data on historical migrations to the United States, one study finds "that a doubling of the number of residents with ancestry from a given foreign country relative to the mean increases by 4.2 percentage points the probability that at least one local firm invests in that country, and increases by 31% the number of employees at domestic recipients of FDI from that country. The size of these effects increases with the ethnic diversity of the local population, the geographic distance to the origin country, and the ethno-linguistic fractionalization of the origin country."<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Migrants, Ancestors, and Investment |first1=Konrad B. |last1=Burchardi |first2=Thomas |last2=Chaney |first3=Tarek A. |last3=Hassan |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 21847 |date=January 2016 |doi=10.3386/w21847 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Emigrants have been found to significantly boost [[Foreign direct investment]] (FDI) back to their country of origin.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Javorcik|first1=Beata S.|author-link1=Beata Javorcik |last2=Özden|first2=Çaglar|last3=Spatareanu|first3=Mariana|last4=Neagu|first4=Cristina|date=1 January 2011|title=Migrant networks and foreign direct investment |journal=Journal of Development Economics|volume=94|issue=2|pages=231–241|doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2010.01.012|citeseerx=10.1.1.319.9420|s2cid=17934565}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tong|first=Sarah Y.|date=1 November 2005|title=Ethnic Networks in FDI and the Impact of Institutional Development |journal=Review of Development Economics|volume=9|issue=4|pages=563–580|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9361.2005.00294.x|s2cid=154262328|issn=1467-9361 |url=http://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/19921 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kugler|first1=Maurice|last2=Levintal|first2=Oren|last3=Rapoport|first3=Hillel|title=Migration and Cross-Border Financial Flows|url= https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01134465/file/WP40-GmonD-migration-border-march2015.pdf|journal=The World Bank Economic Review|volume=32|pages=148–162|doi=10.1093/wber/lhx007|year=2017|hdl=10986/32169|doi-access=free}}</ref> According to one review study, the overall evidence shows that emigration helps developing countries integrate into the global economy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/145243/1/dp10109.pdf|title=Migration and Globalization: What's in it for Developing Countries?}}</ref>

A 2016 study reviewing the literature on migration and economic growth shows that "migrants contribute to the integration of their country into the world market, which can be particularly important for [[economic growth]] in developing countries."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hillel Rapoport|date=20 September 2016|title=Migration and globalization: what's in it for developing countries?|journal=International Journal of Manpower|volume=37|issue=7|pages=1209–1226|doi=10.1108/IJM-08-2015-0116|issn=0143-7720|hdl=10419/145243|s2cid=4931047|url=https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10109|hdl-access=free|archive-date=29 December 2022|access-date=2 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229140934/https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10109|url-status=live}}</ref> Some research suggests that emigration causes an increase in the wages of those who remain in the country of origin. A 2014 survey of the existing literature on emigration finds that a 10 percent emigrant supply shock would increase wages in the sending country by 2–5.5%.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.elgaronline.com/view/9781782548065.00013.xml|title=Emigration and wages in source countries: a survey of the empirical literature |journal=International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development |date=26 December 2014 |via=elgaronline.com|access-date=2016-01-25|last1=Mishra |first1=Prachi |pages=241–266 |isbn=978-1-78254-807-2 }}</ref> A study of emigration from Poland shows that it led to a slight increase in wages for high- and medium-skilled workers for remaining Poles.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dustmann|first1=Christian|last2=Frattini|first2=Tommaso|last3=Rosso|first3=Anna|date=1 April 2015|title=The Effect of Emigration from Poland on Polish Wages |journal=The Scandinavian Journal of Economics|volume=117|issue=2|pages=522–564|doi=10.1111/sjoe.12102|s2cid=7253614|issn=1467-9442|url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1468326/1/Dustmann_the_effect_of_emigration_from_poland.PDF|hdl=2434/271640|hdl-access=free}}</ref> A 2013 study finds that emigration from Eastern Europe after the [[2004 enlargement of the European Union|2004 EU enlargement]] increased the wages of remaining young workers in the country of origin by 6%, while it had no effect on the wages of old workers.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Elsner|first=Benjamin|date=1 September 2013|title=Emigration and wages: The EU enlargement experiment |journal=Journal of International Economics|volume=91|issue=1|pages=154–163|doi=10.1016/j.jinteco.2013.06.002|hdl=10419/48716|url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/119098/files/NDL2011-076.pdf}}</ref> The wages of Lithuanian men increased as a result of post-EU enlargement emigration.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Elsner|first=Benjamin|date=10 November 2012|title=Does emigration benefit the stayers? Evidence from EU enlargement |journal=Journal of Population Economics|volume=26|issue=2|pages=531–553|doi=10.1007/s00148-012-0452-6|issn=0933-1433|hdl=10419/67322|s2cid=155884602|url=https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6843|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Return migration is associated with greater household firm revenues.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2016&paper_id=677|title=The effects of return migration on Egyptian household revenues}}</ref> A study from the IMF concluded that emigration of high skilled labour from Eastern Europe has adversely affected economic and productivity growth in Eastern Europe and slowed down convergence in per capita income between high and low income EU countries.<ref name=":9"/>

A 2019 study in the ''Journal of Political Economy'' found that Swedish emigration to the United States during the late 19th and early 20th century strengthened the labour movement and increased left-wing politics and voting trends.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last1=Karadja|first1=Mounir|last2=Prawitz|first2=Erik|date=2018-11-14|title=Exit, Voice, and Political Change: Evidence from Swedish Mass Migration to the United States|journal=Journal of Political Economy|volume=127|issue=4|pages=1864–1925|doi=10.1086/701682|issn=0022-3808|hdl=10419/183466|s2cid=54017964|url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/183466/1/wp1237.pdf}}</ref> The authors argue that the ability to emigrate strengthened the bargaining position of labour, as well as provided exit options for political dissidents who might have been oppressed.<ref name=":5"/>

=== Education and innovation ===
Research finds that emigration and low migration barriers has net positive effects on human capital formation and innovation in the sending countries.<ref name="Shrestha 495–521"/><ref name="Beine 631–652"/><ref name="Dinkelman 2016 1–35"/><ref name="Batista 32–45"/><ref name="cgdev.org">{{Cite journal |url=http://www.cgdev.org/publication/skilled-emigration-and-skill-creation-quasi-experiment-working-paper-152 |title=Skilled Emigration and Skill Creation: A quasi-experiment – Working Paper 152 |date=30 September 2008 |access-date=2016-07-03 |last1=Chand |first1=Satish |last2=Clemens |first2=Michael |journal=Center for Global Development |archive-date=2023-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230502210013/https://www.cgdev.org/publication/human-capital-investment-under-exit-options-evidence-natural-quasi-experiment |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite SSRN|last1=Laurentsyeva|first1=Nadzeya|last2=Giesing|first2=Yvonne|last3=Fackler|first3=Thomas|date=2018|title=Knowledge Remittances: Does Emigration Foster Innovation?|ssrn=3338774}}[https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp7420.pdf Available online].</ref> This means that there is a "brain gain" instead of a "brain drain" to emigration. One study finds that sending countries benefit indirectly in the long-run on the emigration of skilled workers because those skilled workers are able to innovate more in developed countries, which the sending countries are able to benefit on as a positive [[externality]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://siepr.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/16-016.pdf |title=High-Skilled Migration and Global Innovation |last=Xu |first=Rui |date=March 2016 |work=SIEPR Discussion Paper No. 16-016 |access-date=2018-03-05 |archive-date=2016-06-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611065604/http://siepr.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/16-016.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Greater emigration of skilled workers consequently leads to greater economic growth and welfare improvements in the long-run.<ref name=":0"/> According to economist Michael Clemens, it has not been shown that restrictions on high-skill emigration reduce shortages in the countries of origin.<ref name="Clemens"/>

A 2021 study found that migration opportunities for Filipino nurses led to a net increase in human capital in the Philippines, thus contradicting the "brain drain" thesis.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last1=Abarcar|first1=Paolo|last2=Theoharides|first2=Caroline|date=2021|title=Medical Worker Migration and Origin-Country Human Capital: Evidence from U.S. Visa Policy|journal=The Review of Economics and Statistics|volume=106|pages=20–35|doi=10.1162/rest_a_01131|s2cid=243480631|issn=0034-6535}}</ref> A 2017 paper found that the emigration opportunities to the United States for high-skilled Indians provided by the H-1B visa program surprisingly contributed to the growth of the [[Indian IT industry|Indian IT sector.]]<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://qz.com/997172/you-can-thank-the-h-1b-visa-programme-for-the-it-boom-in-india/|title=Stop blaming the H-1B visa for India's brain drain—it actually achieved the opposite|work=Quartz|access-date=2017-06-03|archive-date=2017-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603030501/https://qz.com/997172/you-can-thank-the-h-1b-visa-programme-for-the-it-boom-in-india/|url-status=live}}</ref> A greater number of Indians were induced to enroll in computer science programs in order to move to the United States; however, a large number of these Indians never moved to the United States (due to caps in the H-1B program) or returned to India after the completion of their visas.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/> One 2011 study finds that emigration has mixed effects on innovation in the sending country, boosting the number of important innovations but reducing the number of average inventions.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Agrawal|first1=Ajay|last2=Kapur|first2=Devesh|last3=McHale|first3=John|last4=Oettl|first4=Alexander|date=1 January 2011|title=Brain drain or brain bank? The impact of skilled emigration on poor-country innovation|journal=Journal of Urban Economics|volume=69|issue=1|pages=43–55|doi=10.1016/j.jue.2010.06.003|s2cid=12708566|url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w14592.pdf|archive-date=29 July 2020|access-date=5 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729134128/https://www.nber.org/papers/w14592.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> A 2019 paper found that emigration from Fiji led to a net increase in skill stocks in Fiji, as citizens increased their education attainment.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.cgdev.org/publication/human-capital-investment-under-exit-options-evidence-natural-quasi-experiment |title=Human Capital Investment under Exit Options: Evidence from a Natural Quasi-Experiment – Working Paper 152 |website=Center For Global Development |date=30 September 2008 |access-date=2019-03-12 |last1=Chand |first1=Satish |last2=Clemens |first2=Michael |archive-date=2023-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501184007/https://www.cgdev.org/publication/human-capital-investment-under-exit-options-evidence-natural-quasi-experiment |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2019 analysis found that emigration of youths from Italy led to a reduction in innovation.<ref>{{Cite tech report|last1=Anelli|first1=Massimo|last2=Basso|first2=Gaetano|last3=Ippedico|first3=Giuseppe|last4=Peri|first4=Giovanni|date=2019|title=Youth Drain, Entrepreneurship and Innovation|series=Working Paper Series|number=26055|institution=National Bureau of Economic Research|url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w26055|doi=10.3386/w26055|s2cid=199299212}}</ref>

=== Democracy, human rights and liberal values ===
Research also suggests that emigration, remittances and return migration can have a positive effect on political institutions and democratization in the country of origin.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="editorialexpress.com">{{Cite web|url=https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2016&paper_id=1009|title=Migration, Political Institutions, and Social Networks in Mozambique|access-date=2016-03-25|archive-date=2023-02-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212014410/https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2016&paper_id=1009|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Batista 77–104">{{Cite journal|last1=Batista|first1=Catia|last2=Vicente|first2=Pedro C.|date=1 January 2011|title=Do Migrants Improve Governance at Home? Evidence from a Voting Experiment|journal=The World Bank Economic Review|volume=25|issue=1|pages=77–104|doi=10.1093/wber/lhr009|issn=0258-6770|hdl=10419/36182|s2cid=1813461|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":5"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Escribà-Folch|first1=Abel|last2=Meseguer|first2=Covadonga|last3=Wright|first3=Joseph|date=1 September 2015|title=Remittances and Democratization|journal=International Studies Quarterly|volume=59|issue=3|pages=571–586|doi=10.1111/isqu.12180|issn=1468-2478|url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/63711/1/__lse.ac.uk_storage_LIBRARY_Secondary_libfile_shared_repository_Content_Meseguer%2C%20C_Remittances%20democratization_Meseguer_Remittances%20democratization_2015.pdf|hdl=10230/47906|s2cid=28432111|hdl-access=free|archive-date=4 April 2023|access-date=10 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404113032/http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/63711/1/__lse.ac.uk_storage_LIBRARY_Secondary_libfile_shared_repository_Content_Meseguer,%20C_Remittances%20democratization_Meseguer_Remittances%20democratization_2015.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tuccio|first1=Michele|last2=Wahba|first2=Jackline|last3=Hamdouch|first3=Bachir|date=1 January 2016|title=International Migration: Driver of Political and Social Change?|journal=IZA Discussion Papers|url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp9794.html|publisher=Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)|archive-date=4 April 2023|access-date=25 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404113027/https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp9794.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Docquier|first1=Frédéric|last2=Lodigiani|first2=Elisabetta|last3=Rapoport|first3=Hillel|last4=Schiff|first4=Maurice|date=1 May 2016|title=Emigration and democracy|journal=Journal of Development Economics|volume=120|pages=209–223|doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.12.001|s2cid=15380816|url=http://www.cepremap.fr/depot/docweb/docweb1406.pdf|archive-date=22 September 2017|access-date=1 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922235418/http://www.cepremap.fr/depot/docweb/docweb1406.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pfutze|first=Tobias|date=1 June 2014|title=Clientelism Versus Social Learning: The Electoral Effects of International Migration |journal=International Studies Quarterly|volume=58|issue=2|pages=295–307|doi=10.1111/isqu.12072|issn=1468-2478|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Beine|first1=Michel|last2=Sekkat|first2=Khalid|date=19 June 2013|title=Skilled migration and the transfer of institutional norms |journal=IZA Journal of Migration|volume=2|issue=1|page=9|doi=10.1186/2193-9039-2-9|issn=2193-9039|doi-access=free|hdl=10419/92227|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Research shows that exposure to emigrants boosts turnout.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chauvet|first1=Lisa|last2=Mercier|first2=Marion|date=1 August 2014|title=Do return migrants transfer political norms to their origin country? Evidence from Mali|journal=Journal of Comparative Economics|volume=42|issue=3|pages=630–651|doi=10.1016/j.jce.2014.01.001|url=https://basepub.dauphine.fr/handle/123456789/12585|archive-date=2 June 2020|access-date=5 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602045212/https://basepub.dauphine.fr/handle/123456789/12585|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pérez-Armendáriz|first1=Clarisa|last2=Crow|first2=David|date=1 January 2010|title=Do Migrants Remit Democracy? International Migration, Political Beliefs, and Behavior in Mexico |journal=Comparative Political Studies|volume=43|issue=1|pages=119–148|doi=10.1177/0010414009331733|s2cid=154333341|issn=0010-4140}}</ref> Research also shows that remittances can lower the risk of civil war in the country of origin.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Regan|first1=Patrick M.|last2=Frank|first2=Richard W.|date=1 November 2014|title=Migrant remittances and the onset of civil war |journal=Conflict Management and Peace Science|volume=31|issue=5|pages=502–520|doi=10.1177/0738894213520369|s2cid=154500219|issn=0738-8942}}</ref> Migration leads to lower levels of terrorism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bove|first1=Vincenzo|last2=Böhmelt|first2=Tobias|date=11 February 2016|title=Does Immigration Induce Terrorism?|journal=The Journal of Politics|volume=78|issue=2|pages=572–588|doi=10.1086/684679|s2cid=51947927|issn=0022-3816|url=http://repository.essex.ac.uk/17112/1/Bove%20Bohmelt%20JoP.pdf|archive-date=9 April 2022|access-date=1 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409014930/http://repository.essex.ac.uk/17112/1/Bove%20Bohmelt%20JoP.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Return migration from countries with liberal gender norms has been associated with the transfer of liberal gender norms to the home country.<ref>{{Cite SSRN|last1=Tuccio|first1=Michele|last2=Wahba|first2=Jackline|date=4 September 2015|title=Can I Have Permission to Leave the House? Return Migration and the Transfer of Gender Norms|ssrn=2655237}}</ref><ref>{{Cite SSRN|last1=Lodigiani|first1=Elisabetta|last2=Salomone|first2=Sara|date=23 June 2015|title=Migration-Induced Transfers of Norms. The Case of Female Political Empowerment|ssrn=2622394}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ferrant|first1=Gaëlle|last2=Tuccio|first2=Michele|date=1 August 2015|title=South–South Migration and Discrimination Against Women in Social Institutions: A Two-way Relationship |journal=World Development|volume=72|pages=240–254|doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.03.002}}</ref> A 2009 study finds that foreigners educated in democracies foster democracy in their home countries.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Spilimbergo|first=Antonio|date=1 March 2009|title=Democracy and Foreign Education|journal=American Economic Review|volume=99|issue=1|pages=528–543|doi=10.1257/aer.99.1.528|issn=0002-8282|citeseerx=10.1.1.372.3312}}</ref> Studies find that leaders who were educated in the West are significantly more likely to improve their country's prospects of implementing democracy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gift|first1=Thomas|last2=Krcmaric|first2=Daniel|date=31 July 2015|title=Who Democratizes? Western-educated Leaders and Regime Transitions |journal=Journal of Conflict Resolution|volume=61|issue=3|article-number=0022002715590878|doi=10.1177/0022002715590878|s2cid=156073540|issn=0022-0027}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mercier|first=Marion|date=1 September 2016|title=The return of the prodigy son: Do return migrants make better leaders? |journal=Journal of Development Economics|volume=122|pages=76–91|doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.04.005|citeseerx=10.1.1.646.5019|s2cid=31029361}}</ref> A 2016 study found that Chinese immigrants exposed to Western media censored in China became more critical of their home government's performance on the issues covered in the media and less trusting in official discourse.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tai|first=Qiuqing|date=2 January 2016|title=Western Media Exposure and Chinese Immigrants' Political Perceptions|journal=Political Communication|volume=33|issue=1|pages=78–97|doi=10.1080/10584609.2014.978921|s2cid=147034160|issn=1058-4609}}</ref> A 2014 study found that remittances decreased corruption in democratic states.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tyburski|first=Michael D.|date=1 July 2014|title=Curse or Cure? Migrant Remittances and Corruption |journal=The Journal of Politics|volume=76|issue=3|pages=814–824|doi=10.1017/S0022381614000279|issn=0022-3816}}</ref>

A 2015 study finds that the emigration of women in rural China reduces [[Missing women of China#Chinese historical and traditional culture: son preference|son preference]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lu|first1=Yao|last2=Tao|first2=Ran|date=4 March 2015|title=Female Migration, Cultural Context, and Son Preference in Rural China |journal=Population Research and Policy Review|volume=34|issue=5|pages=665–686|doi=10.1007/s11113-015-9357-x|s2cid=154873054|issn=0167-5923}}</ref>

== Historical examples ==
=== Flight of the Neoplatonic academy philosophers ===
After [[Justinian]] closed the [[Platonic Academy]] in 529 AD, according to the historian Agathias, its remaining members sought protection from the [[Sassanid dynasty|Sassanid]] ruler, [[Khosrow I|Khosrau I]], carrying with them precious scrolls of literature, philosophy and, to a lesser degree, science. After the peace treaty between the Persian and the Byzantine empires in 532 guaranteed their personal security, some members of this group found sanctuary in the Pagan stronghold of [[Harran]], near [[Edessa]]. One of the last leading figures of this group was [[Simplicius of Cilicia|Simplicius]], a pupil of [[Damascius]], the last head of the Athenian school. The students of an academy-in-exile may have survived into the ninth century, long enough to facilitate the medieval revival of the Neoplatonist commentary tradition in [[Baghdad]].<ref name="sorabji11">Richard Sorabji, (2005), ''The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200–600 AD: Psychology (with Ethics and Religion)'', page 11. Cornell University Press</ref>

=== Spanish expulsion of Jews (15th century) ===
After the end of the [[Reconquista|Catholic reconquest of Spain]], the [[Catholic Monarchs]] pursued the goal of a religiously homogenous kingdom. Thus, [[Jews]] were expelled from the country in 1492. As they dominated Spain's financial service industry, their expulsion was instrumental in causing future economic problems, for example the need for foreign [[banker]]s such as the [[Fugger family]] and others from [[Republic of Genoa|Genova]]. On 7 January 1492, the King ordered the [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|expulsion of all the Jews from Spain]]—from the kingdoms of Castile and León (Kingdoms of Galicia, Leon, Old Castile, New Castile or Toledo), Navarra and Aragon (Aragon, Principality of Catalonia, Kingdoms of Valencia, Mallorca and the Rousillon and the two Sicilies). Before that, the Queen had also expelled them from the four Kingdoms of Andalusia (Seville, Cordova, Jaén and Granada).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/1492-jews-spain1.html |title=The Expulsion from Spain, 1492 CE |publisher=Jewish History Sourcebook |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2010-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110123919/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/1492-jews-spain1.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.themaparchive.com/the-kingdoms-of-spain-1492.html|title=The Kingdoms of Spain 1492|website=www.themaparchive.com|access-date=2019-08-23}}</ref> Their departure contributed to economic decline in some regions of Spain. 

=== Huguenot exodus from France (17th century) ===
In 1685, [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] revoked the [[Edict of Nantes]] and declared Protestantism to be illegal in the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]]. After this, many [[Huguenots]] (estimates range from 200,000 to 1 million<ref name="EB11">''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 11th ed, Frank Puaux, ''Huguenot''</ref>) fled to surrounding Protestant countries: [[England]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Switzerland]], [[Norway]], [[Denmark]] and [[Prussia]]—whose Calvinist great elector, [[Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick William]], welcomed them to help rebuild his war-ravaged and under-populated country. Many went to the Dutch [[Dutch Cape Colony|colony at the Cape]] (South Africa), where they were instrumental in establishing a wine industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cape-town.info/surrounding-areas-winelands/franschhoek/ |title=Franschhoek – Cape Town wine region |publisher=Cape-town.info |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2010-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428233920/http://www.cape-town.info/surrounding-areas-winelands/franschhoek/ |url-status=live }}</ref> At least 10,000 went to Ireland, where they were assimilated into the Protestant minority during the [[Plantations of Ireland|plantations]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}

Many Huguenots and their descendants prospered. [[Henri Basnage de Beauval]] fled France and settled in the Netherlands, where he became an influential writer and historian. [[Abel Boyer]], another noted writer, settled in London and became a tutor to the [[British royal family]]. [[Henry Fourdrinier]], the descendant of Huguenot settlers in England, founded the modern paper industry. Augustin [[Courtaulds|Courtauld]] fled to England, settling in Essex and established a dynasty that founded the British silk industry. Noted Swiss mathematician [[Gabriel Cramer]] was born in Geneva to Huguenot refugees. Sir [[John Houblon]], the first Governor of the [[Bank of England]], was born into a Huguenot family in London. [[Isaac Barré]], the son of Huguenot settlers in Ireland, became an influential British soldier and politician. Gustav and Peter Carl Fabergé, the descendants of Huguenot refugees, founded the world-famous [[Fabergé]] company in Russia, maker of the famous Faberge eggs.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}

The exodus of Huguenots from France created a brain drain, as Huguenots accounted for a disproportionate number of [[entrepreneurial]], [[artisan]] and technical occupations in the country.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Future of Post-Human Migration: A Preface to a New Theory of Sameness, Otherness, and Identity|first=Peter |last=Baofu|year= 2013| isbn= 978-1-4438-4487-1| page =243|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=French Immigrants and Pioneers in the Making of America|first=Marie-Pierre|last= Le Hir|year= 2020| isbn= 978-1-4766-8442-0| page =64 |publisher=McFarland|quote=The exodus of Huguenots who left France to settle in England, Holland, Switzerland, and German principalities before sailing to British North America, created a brain drain ...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Collected Works of Ann Yearsley|first=Kerry |last=Andrews|year= 2020| isbn=978-1-000-74379-1| page =332 |publisher=Taylor & Francic|quote=The exodus of Huguenots from France caused an early kind of 'brain drain' whereby France lost many of its most skilled workers and artisans}}</ref> The loss of this technical expertise was a blow from which the kingdom did not fully recover for many years.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}}

=== Expulsion of the Jesuits ===
The [[suppression of the Society of Jesus]] in Spanish America in 1767 caused the Jesuit [[Peruvian wine|vineyards in Peru]] to be [[auction]]ed at high prices, but new owners did not have the same expertise as the Jesuits, contributing to a production decline.<ref name=Lacoste>{{cite journal |last1=Lacoste |first1=Pablo |language=es |date=2004 |title=La vid y el vino en América del Sur: el desplazamiento de los polos vitivinícolas (siglos XVI al XX) |journal=[[Universum (journal)|Universum]] |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=62–93 |doi=10.4067/S0718-23762004000200005 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Also, after the suppression, the production and importance of [[history of yerba mate|yerba mate-producing regions]], which had been dominated by Jesuits, began to decline.<ref name=Daumas>Ernesto Daumas. 1930. El problema de la yerba mate. Buenos Aires, Compañia Impresora Argentina.</ref><ref name="Jamieson">Ross W. Jamieson. The Essence of Commodification: Caffeine dependencies in the early modern world. Journal of Social History, Winter 2001. Excerpt: [http://www.yerba-mate.com/yerba_mate_history.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070601003317/http://www.yerba-mate.com/yerba_mate_history.htm|date=2007-06-01}}</ref> Excessive exploitation of indigenous labour in the plantations led to decay in the industry and the scattering of [[Guaraní people|Guaranís]] living in the missions.<ref name=Jamieson/><ref name=Folch>Folch, Christine. Stimulating Consumption: Yerba Mate Myths, Markets, and Meanings from Conquest to Present. Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History, 2010.</ref> With the fall of the Jesuits, and the mismanagement of their former enterprises by the crown and the new entrepreneurs that had taken over, Paraguay gained an unrivalled position as the main producer of [[yerba mate]]. The plantation system of the Jesuits did prevail, however, and mate continued chiefly to be harvested from wild stand through the 18th century and most of the 19th century.<ref name=Jamieson/>

=== 19th century Eastern Europe migration ===
{{Main|Pogroms in the Russian Empire}}

Mid-19th century Eastern European migration was significantly shaped by religious factors. The Jewish minority experienced strong discrimination in the [[Russian Empire]] during this period, which reached its maximum in the [[pogrom]] waves of the 1880s. During the 1880s, the mass exodus of more than two million Russian Jews began. Already before, a migration stream of Jewish people started which was characterized by highly skilled individuals. This pronounced selectivity was not caused by economic incentives, but by political persecution.<ref name="cream.conference-services.net"/> A large number of [[Nobel Prize]] winners were descendants of the people ejected by pogroms who emigrated to the United States and the United Kingdom.

===Antisemitism in pre-World War II Europe (1933–1943)===
[[Antisemitism|Antisemitic]] sentiments and laws in Europe through the 1930s and 1940s, culminating in [[the Holocaust]], caused an exodus of intelligentsia. Notable examples are:
* [[Albert Einstein]] (emigrated permanently to the United States in 1933)
* [[Sigmund Freud]] (finally decided to emigrate permanently with his wife and daughter to London, England, in 1938, two months after the [[Anschluss]])
* [[Enrico Fermi]] (1938; though he was not Jewish himself, his wife, Laura, was)
* [[Niels Bohr]] (1943; his mother was Jewish)
* [[Theodore von Karman]]
* [[John von Neumann]] (Hungarian, Roman Catholic convert)
* [[Hans Bethe]]
* [[Emmy Noether]]
* [[Leo Szilard]]
* [[Hannah Arendt]] (first fled to Paris from 1933, and eventually emigrated to the United States in 1940)
* [[Walter Benjamin]]
* [[Theodore Adorno]]
* [[Max Horkheimer]]

Besides Jews, Nazi persecution extended to liberals and socialists in Germany, further contributing to emigration. Refugees in New York City founded the [[University in Exile]]. The most prolific research center in maths and physics before the war was the German [[University of Göttingen]], that became a focal point for the [[Nazism|Nazi]] crackdown on "Jewish physics", as represented by the work of [[Albert Einstein]]. In what was later called the [[Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service|"great purge" of 1933]], academics were expelled or fled, ending up in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Following the great purge, the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in Princeton took on the role of leading research institution in maths and physics.

The [[Bauhaus]], perhaps the most important arts and design school of the 20th century, was forced to close down during the [[Nazi]] regime because of their liberal and socialist leanings, which the Nazis considered [[degenerate art|degenerate]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} The school had already been shut down in Weimar because of its political stance, but moved to Dessau prior to the closing. Following this abandonment, two of the three pioneers of [[modern architecture]], [[Mies van der Rohe]] and [[Walter Gropius]], left Germany for America (while [[Le Corbusier]] stayed in France). They introduced the European Modern movement to the American public and fostered the [[International Style (architecture)|International Style]] in architecture and design,{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} helping to transform design education at American universities and influencing later architects.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} A 2014 study in the ''[[American Economic Review]]'' found that German Jewish Émigrés in the US boosted innovation there.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Moser|first1=Petra|last2=Voena|first2=Alessandra|last3=Waldinger|first3=Fabian|title=German Jewish Émigrés and US Invention|journal=American Economic Review|volume=104|issue=10|pages=3222–3255|doi=10.1257/aer.104.10.3222|year=2014|url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68322/1/Waldinger_German%20Jewish%20emigres_2016.pdf|archive-date=2019-02-08|access-date=2019-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208021124/http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68322/1/Waldinger_German%20Jewish%20emigres_2016.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

The resulting wave of high-skilled immigration greatly bolstered up the scientific development of the United Kingdom and United States of America. As a result of Nazi intellectual purges, the [[Anglosphere]] replaced Germany as the world's scientific leader.<ref name="iza">{{cite web|last1=Becker|first1=Sascha|last2=Lindenthal|first2=Volker|last3=Mukand|first3=Sharun|last4=Waldinger|first4=Fabian|title=Persecution and Escape: Professional Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany|publisher=IZA – Institute of Labor Economics|pages=1, 27|year=2021|url=https://docs.iza.org/dp14120.pdf}}</ref> German historian {{ill|Michael Grüttner|de}} stated that the "German universities suffered a loss of 20.5% of their teaching staff" after the Nazi seizure of power. He estimates that about 70% of fired scientists lost their position because of Jewish or "non-Aryan" ancestry, 10% lost their position because they were married to a Jew, and 20% were fired for political reasons. As over 60% of fired scientists emigrated, Grüttner argues that Germany lost even more than the sheer number of dismissed scientists would suggest as top scientists were disproportionately represented among the emigrees. When taking into consideration both those who won [[Nobel Prize]] either before or after emigration, a total of 24 Nobel laureates fled either Germany or Austria because of Nazi persecution.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grüttner |first=Michael |year=2022 |title=The Expulsion of Academic Teaching Staff from German Universities, 1933–45 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00220094211063074 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=513–533 |doi=10.1177/00220094211063074 |s2cid=245419038 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Many [[Jews escaping from German-occupied Europe to the United Kingdom]] established successful careers in publishing, medicine, science, psychoanalysis and other occupations. Notable scientists include [[Max Perutz]], [[Rudolf Peierls]], [[Francis Simon]], [[Ernst Boris Chain]] and [[Hans Adolf Krebs]].<ref name="AJR CB pp. 16, 19">{{cite web|url=http://www.ajr.org.uk/documents/cb_continental_britons_full.pdf|title=Continental Britons: Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe|website=The Association of Jewish Refugees|year=2002|pages=16, 19|access-date=1 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414203729/http://www.ajr.org.uk/documents/cb_continental_britons_full.pdf|archive-date=14 April 2012}}</ref> Intellectuals include art historians [[Nikolaus Pevsner]] and [[Ernst Gombrich]], sociologists [[Norbert Elias]] and [[Karl Mannheim]], and philosophers [[Karl Popper]] and [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]].<ref name="AJR CB pp. 16, 19"/>

=== Hungarian scientists in the early and mid 20th century ===
{{Main|The Martians (scientists)}}

Different waves of emigration occurred.

Before World War I: [[József Galamb]], engineer and creator of T-Ford; [[Eugene Farkas]], engineer and creator of [[Fordson]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ceautoclassic.eu/the-110-year-old-ford-model-t-and-the-hungarians-who-made-it-a-success/|title=The 110-year-old Ford Model T and the Hungarians who made it a success &#124; CEAutoClassic|date=24 October 2018 }}</ref> tractor; [[Philipp Lenard]] (Nobel prize/physics)
* First and biggest wave was around World War I.
* Then after Trianon 1920 when Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory: [[Mária Telkes]], [[István Szabó]] (engineer/physicist), [[Hans Selye]]
* World War II and the Third Reich
* Soviet occupation and communist occupation around 1948 and then revolution of 1956

During the 1930s and 1940s Hungarian was the third-most-often-used language in Hollywood.

"The Martians" were a group of prominent Hungarian scientists of Jewish descent (mostly, but not exclusively, physicists and mathematicians) who escaped to the United States during and after World War II due to Nazism or Communism. They included, among others, [[Theodore von Kármán]], [[John von Neumann]], [[Paul Halmos]], [[Eugene Wigner]], [[Edward Teller]], [[George Pólya]], [[John G. Kemeny]] and [[Paul Erdős]]. Several were from Budapest, and were instrumental in American scientific progress (e.g., developing the atomic bomb). Many more left because of communism: Hungarian Nobel-prize winners: [[György von Békésy]], [[Szent-Györgyi]], [[Harsányi]] and [[Hersko]] and others like [[Viktor Szebehely]], [[Zoltán Bay]], [[Alexandre Lamfalussy]] (economist), [[Mihaly Csikszentmihaly]] ([[Flow (psychology)|Flow]])
* After the revolution of 1956 many left: [[Ferenc Pavlics]] (engineer) creator of the [[Lunar Roving Vehicle]], [[Imre Izsák]], [[Oláh György]] (Nobel prize/chemistry), [[Csaba Horváth (chemical engineer)|Csaba Horváth]]<ref>[[Csaba Horváth (chemical engineer)]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=October 2019}} (chemical engineer) and parents of [[Nick Szabo]] ([[Bitcoin]])
The process didn't stop, since the region that used to be the Western Block quickly recovered from the economic crisis caused by the World War and stabilized as reconstruction was completed so the bulk of businesses and capital flocked there, creating a systematic barrier.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Balogh |first=Máté Gergely |date=2011 |editor-last=Sebestyen |editor-first=Victor |title=The Disintegration of the Eastern Bloc |journal=Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=439–442 |jstor=43487838 |issn=1218-7364}}</ref>

=== German scientist recruitment by the US and USSR post World War II ===
{{Main|Operation Paperclip|Operation Lusty|Operation Osoaviakhim}}

In the last months of and post World War II, both the American and Soviet governments forcibly recruited and transported thousands of former Nazi scientists to the US and USSR respectively to continue their scientific work in those countries.

=== Eastern Europe under the Eastern Bloc ===
{{Main|Emigration from the Eastern Bloc|Eastern Bloc}}

[[File:Berlin Wall Potsdamer Platz November 1975 looking east.jpg|thumb|right|[[Berlin Wall]] in November 1975]]

By 1922, the [[Soviet Union]] had issued restrictions making [[emigration]] of its citizens to other countries almost impossible.<ref name="dowty69">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=69}}</ref> Soviet Premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] later stated, "We were scared, really scared. We were afraid the thaw might unleash a flood, which we wouldn't be able to control and which could drown us. How could it drown us? It could have overflowed the banks of the Soviet riverbed and formed a tidal wave which would have washed away all the barriers and retaining walls of our society."<ref name="dowty74">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=74}}</ref> After Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, the majority of those living in the countries of the Eastern Bloc aspired to independence and wanted the Soviets to leave.<ref name="thackeray188">{{Harvnb|Thackeray|2004|p=188}}</ref> By the early 1950s, the approach of the [[Soviet Union]] to restricting [[emigration]] was emulated by most of the rest of the [[Eastern Bloc]], including [[East Germany]].<ref name="dowty114">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=114}}</ref>

Even after the official closing of the [[Inner German border]] in 1952,<ref name="harrison99">{{Harvnb|Harrison|2003|p=99}}</ref> the border between the sectors of [[East Berlin]] and [[West Berlin]] remained considerably more accessible than the rest of the border because it was administered by all four occupying powers.<ref name="dowty121">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=121}}</ref> The Berlin sector border was essentially a "loophole" through which Eastern Bloc citizens could still emigrate.<ref name="harrison99"/> The 3.5 million East Germans, called ''[[Republikflucht|Republikflüchtlinge]]'', who had left by 1961 totalled approximately 20% of the entire East German population.<ref name="dowty122">{{Harvnb|Dowty|1989|p=122}}</ref> The emigrants tended to be young and well educated, leading to the brain drain feared by officials in East Germany.<ref name="thackeray188"/> [[Yuri Andropov]], then the [[CPSU]] director of Relations with Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries, decided on 28 August 1958 to write an urgent letter to the Central Committee about the 50% increase in the number of East German intelligentsia among the refugees.<ref name="harrison100">{{Harvnb|Harrison|2003|p=100}}</ref> Andropov reported that, while the East German leadership stated that they were leaving for economic reasons, testimony from refugees indicated that the reasons were more political than material.<ref name="harrison100"/> He stated, "the flight of the intelligentsia has reached a particularly critical phase."<ref name="harrison100"/> The direct cost of labour force losses has been estimated at $7 billion to $9 billion, with East German party leader [[Walter Ulbricht]] later claiming that West Germany owed him $17 billion in compensation, including reparations as well as labour force losses.<ref name="dowty122"/> In addition, the drain of East Germany's young population potentially cost it over 22.5 billion marks in lost educational investment.<ref>Volker Rolf Berghahn, ''Modern Germany: Society, Economy and Politics in the Twentieth Century'', p. 227. Cambridge University Press, 1987</ref> In August 1961, East Germany erected a barbed-wire barrier that would eventually be expanded by construction into the [[Berlin Wall]], effectively closing the loophole.<ref name="pearson75">{{Harvnb|Pearson|1998|p=75}}</ref>

== By region ==
=== Europe ===
{{Update|section|date=March 2025}}

Human capital flight in Europe fits into two distinct trends. The first is an outflow of highly qualified scientists from [[Western Europe]] mostly to the United States.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=11 January 2004 |first=Chu |last=Jeff |url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,574849,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040405200809/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,574849,00.html |archive-date=April 5, 2004 |title=How To Plug Europe's Brain Drain |magazine=TIME |access-date=2008-06-01}}</ref> The second is a migration of skilled workers from [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Southeastern Europe]] into Western Europe, within the [[EU]].<ref>{{cite news |date=28 June 2006 |first=Jim |last=Stenman |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/06/28/eu.university/index.html |title=Europe fears brain drain to UK |publisher=CNN |access-date=2008-06-01 |archive-date=2009-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201080540/http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/06/28/eu.university/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> While in some countries the trend may be slowing,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.workpermit.com/news/2008-05-20/uk/united-kingdom-accession-monitoring-figures-released.htm |title=Eastern European immigration statistics released by the UK |date=21 May 2008 |publisher=Workpermit.com |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2010-12-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204171018/http://workpermit.com/news/2008-05-20/uk/united-kingdom-accession-monitoring-figures-released.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.workpermit.com/news/2008-05-05/uk/eastern-european-immigration-decreases-britain.htm |title=Eastern European immigration slows down in the UK |date=5 May 2008 |publisher=Workpermit.com |access-date=2011-02-28}}</ref> certain South European countries such as Italy continue to experience extremely high rates of human capital flight.<ref>Stankovic, Mirjana et al., 2013, "Science and Innovation Policy in Southeast Europe: Brain Drain as Brain Gain", ''International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development'', '''6''' (3): 262-282 (2013) {{SSRN|2162956}}</ref> The European Union has noted a net loss of highly skilled workers and introduced a [[Blue Card (European Union)|"blue card"]] policy—much like the American [[Permanent residence (United States)|green card]]—which "seeks to draw an additional 20 million workers from Asia, Africa and the Americas in the next two decades".<ref>{{cite news |date=24 October 2007 |first=Dan |last=Bilefsky |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/business/worldbusiness/24immig.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin |title=Europe Tries to Attract Migrants It Prefers |newspaper=New York Times |access-date=2008-06-01}}</ref>

Although the EU recognizes a need for extensive immigration to mitigate the effects of an aging population,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/info/news_en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071028092059/http://ec.europa.eu/news/employment/071023_1_en.htm|title=News|archive-date=October 28, 2007|website=European Commission – European Commission}}</ref> [[national populist]] political parties have gained support in many European countries by calling for stronger laws restricting immigration.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/gall/0,,711990,00.html |title=Europe's Far Right |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=2008-06-01 |location=London |archive-date=2013-12-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203225141/http://www.theguardian.com/gall/0,,711990,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Immigrants are perceived both as a burden on the state and the cause of social problems such as increased [[crime]] rates and the introduction of [[Culture gap|major cultural differences]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1147&context=iir |title=Spotlight on Immigration: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Immigrants and Their Children |publisher=California Digital Library |date=2 March 2007 |access-date=2011-02-28|last1=Hiatt |first1=Keith D. }}</ref>

The EU lags significantly behind the US and China in venture capital investments, with the EU capturing only 5% of global venture capital compared to 52% in the US and 40% in China. A high percentage of EU scale-ups involve foreign lead investors, and many end up being acquired by foreign entities or listed on foreign stock exchanges. This trend contributes to a brain drain and the relocation of innovative firms outside the EU. Promising companies and talent to relocate overseas. This undermines the local business environment and hampers Europe's capacity to retain industry leaders and foster new technological advancements.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The scale-up gap: Financial market constraints holding back innovative firms in the European Union |url=https://www.eib.org/the-scale-up-gap |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=European Investment Bank |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Craig S. |title=Europe's Venture Capital Scene Is Narrowing The Gap With The US Despite Global Investment Slowdown |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/craigsmith/2023/02/14/europes-venture-capital-scene-is-narrowing-the-gap-with-the-us-despite-global-investment-slowdown/ |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=Forbes |language=en |archive-date=2024-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240730144313/https://www.forbes.com/sites/craigsmith/2023/02/14/europes-venture-capital-scene-is-narrowing-the-gap-with-the-us-despite-global-investment-slowdown/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Funding A Rival: When the United States and Europe Invest in Chinese Tech |url=https://www.ifri.org/en/publications/etudes-de-lifri/funding-rival-when-united-states-and-europe-invest-chinese-tech |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=www.ifri.org |language=en |archive-date=2024-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240719121652/https://www.ifri.org/en/publications/etudes-de-lifri/funding-rival-when-united-states-and-europe-invest-chinese-tech |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Western Europe ====
In 2006, over 250,000 Europeans emigrated to the United States (164,285),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/IS-4496_LPRFlowReport_04vaccessible.pdf |title=U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2006 |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2011-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211210041/http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/IS-4496_LPRFlowReport_04vaccessible.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Australia]] (40,455),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/C91452EF314864A8CA25732F001C92F8/%24File/41020_Migration%20-%20permanent%20additions%20to%20Australia%27s%20population%20_2007.pdf |title=Permanent additions to Australia's population |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2011-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202190406/http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/C91452EF314864A8CA25732F001C92F8/%24File/41020_Migration%20-%20permanent%20additions%20to%20Australia%27s%20population%20_2007.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Canada]] (37,946)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/statistics/facts2006/permanent/16.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211173719/http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/statistics/facts2006/permanent/16.asp|title=Facts and Figures 2006 – Immigration Overview: Permanent and Temporary Residents|archive-date=December 11, 2007}}</ref> and [[New Zealand]] (30,262).<ref>[http://www.stats.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/DFB1225E-3284-4C0F-9352-92993D8FECE6/17859/emdec06yearalltables.xls]{{dead link|date=February 2011}}</ref> [[Germany]] alone saw 155,290 people leave the country (though mostly to destinations within Europe). This is the highest rate of worker emigration since [[German reunification|reunification]], and was equal to the rate in the aftermath of [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite news |date=1 June 2007 |first=Tony |last=Paterson |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/german-brain-drain-at-highest-level-since-1940s-451250.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414033731/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/german-brain-drain-at-highest-level-since-1940s-451250.html |archive-date=April 14, 2008 |title=German brain drain at highest level since 1940s |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=2008-06-01 | location=London}}</ref> [[Portugal]] has experienced the largest human capital flight in Western Europe. The country has lost 19.5% of its qualified population and is struggling to absorb sufficient skilled immigrants to compensate for losses to Australia, Canada, [[Switzerland]], Germany, [[United Kingdom]] and [[Austria]].<ref>[https://jn.sapo.pt/2005/10/28/sociedade/portugal_deixa_fugir_195_cerebros.html Jornal de Notícias] {{webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20070921150855/http://jn.sapo.pt/2005/10/28/sociedade/portugal_deixa_fugir_195_cerebros.html|date=21 September 2007}} [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/wayback/20051028221110/http%3A//jn%2Esapo%2Ept/2005/10/28/sociedade/portugal_deixa_fugir_195_cerebros%2Ehtml Archived copy] at the [[Portuguese Web Archive]] (28 October 2005).</ref>

==== United Kingdom ====
Business industries expressed worries that [[Brexit]] poses significant risk of causing brain drain.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/eu-migration-uk-brexit-referendum-latest-net-fall-figures-why-racism-hate-crime-brexodus-government-a7911196.html|title=EU citizens explain why they are leaving the UK|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|date=24 August 2017|access-date=31 August 2017|archive-date=2 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902172119/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/eu-migration-uk-brexit-referendum-latest-net-fall-figures-why-racism-hate-crime-brexodus-government-a7911196.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Central and Eastern Europe ====
[[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]]an countries have expressed concerns about extensive migration of skilled labourers to Ireland and the United Kingdom following the creation of the [[Schengen Agreement]]. [[Lithuania]], for example, has lost about 100,000 citizens since 2003, many of them young and well-educated, to emigration to Ireland in particular.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} (Ireland itself previously experienced high rates of human capital flight to the United States, Great Britain and Canada before the [[Celtic Tiger]] economic programs.) A similar phenomenon occurred in Poland after its entry into the [[European Union]]. In the first year of its EU membership, 100,000 Poles registered to work in England, joining an estimated 750,000 residents of Polish descent.<ref>{{cite news |date=15 May 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2005/may/15/workandcareers.europeanunion |title=Doctors go west in Polish brain drain |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=2008-06-01 | location=London | first=David | last=Smith}}</ref> However, with the rapid growth of salaries in Poland, its booming economy, the strong value of the [[Polish zloty|zloty]], and decreasing unemployment (which fell from 14.2% in May 2006 to 8% in March 2008<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/PGP_PRD_CAT_PREREL/PGE_CAT_PREREL_YEAR_2008/PGE_CAT_PREREL_YEAR_2008_MONTH_04/3-01042008-EN-AP.PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408192220/http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/PGP_PRD_CAT_PREREL/PGE_CAT_PREREL_YEAR_2008/PGE_CAT_PREREL_YEAR_2008_MONTH_04/3-01042008-EN-AP.PDF|title=Eurostat February 2008 – Euro area unemployment stable at 7.1%|archive-date=April 8, 2008}}</ref>), the flight of Polish workers slowed.<ref>{{cite news |date=16 February 2008 |author=Alexi Mostrous and Christine Seib |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3378877.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513120446/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3378877.ece |archive-date=May 13, 2008 |title=Tide turns as Poles end great migration |newspaper=The Times |access-date=2008-06-01 | location=London}}</ref> In 2008 and early 2009 people who came back outnumbered those leaving the country. The exodus is likely to continue, however.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/4742214/UK-Poles-return-home.html UK Poles return home]. The Telegraph. 21 February 2009.</ref> According to IMF, the emigration of high skilled labour has adversely affected growth in Eastern Europe and slowed down convergence in per capita income between high and low income EU countries.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal|last1=Atoyan|first1=Ruben|last2=Christiansen|first2=Lone Engbo|last3=Dizioli|first3=Allan|last4=Ebeke|first4=Christian|last5=Ilahi|first5=Nadeem|last6=Ilyina|first6=Anna|last7=Mehrez|first7=Gil|last8=Qu|first8=Haonan|last9=Raei|first9=Faezeh|last10=Rhee|first10=Alaina|last11=Zakharova|first11=Daria|date=2016|title=Emigration and Its Economic Impact on Eastern Europe|journal=Staff Discussion Notes|volume=16|issue=7|page=1|doi=10.5089/9781475576368.006|issn=2221-030X}}</ref>

==== Russia ====
[[File:Immigration to Israel.webp|thumb|Immigration to Israel in the [[1990s post-Soviet aliyah]] led to the [[Yozma]] program to kick start venture capital and take advantage of the immigration talent.'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/total-immigration-to-israel-from-former-soviet-union|title=Total Immigration to Israel from the Former Soviet Union|access-date=2025-03-19|archive-date=2025-03-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250321015039/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/total-immigration-to-israel-from-former-soviet-union|url-status=live}}</ref>{{legend|#3981C6|Total immigrants|outline=#D5D5D5}}
{{legend|#D9544D|Immigrants from the [[USSR]] and [[post-Soviet states]]|outline=#FFD900}}''']]

After Russia [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|invaded Ukraine]] in February 2022, there was a major exodus of skilled workers and potential draftees. Most international companies operating in Russia departed, taking their skilled experts with them. Studies report that this would have a demographic effect especially in Russia lasting much longer than the conflict will take place, and much longer than [[Vladimir Putin]] will remain president.<ref>{{Cite web |last=red |first=ORF at |date=2023-07-09 |title=Russlands Braindrain: Ein Land verliert sein Potenzial |url=https://orf.at/stories/3319159/ |access-date=2023-07-09 |website=news.ORF.at |language=de |archive-date=2023-07-11 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230711134432/https://orf.at/stories/3319159/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=She had a dream job. Now, she's part of a massive brain drain hammering Russia |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/1176769042/russia-economy-brain-drain-oil-prices-flee-ukraine-invasion |website=NPR |date=31 May 2023 |access-date=2023-07-17 |archive-date=2023-08-07 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230807144130/https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/1176769042/russia-economy-brain-drain-oil-prices-flee-ukraine-invasion |url-status=live |last1=Smith |first1=Stacey Vanek }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-03-21 |title=The Putin Exodus: The New Russian Brain Drain |url=https://www.oei.fu-berlin.de/institut/termine/The-Putin-Exodus_-The-New-Russian-Brain-Drain.html |access-date=2023-07-09 |website=www.oei.fu-berlin.de |language=de |archive-date=2023-12-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203135014/https://www.oei.fu-berlin.de/institut/termine/The-Putin-Exodus_-The-New-Russian-Brain-Drain.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Putin Exodus |url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/The-Putin-Exodus.pdf |website=Atlantic Council |access-date=2023-07-17 |archive-date=2022-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321112310/https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/The-Putin-Exodus.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The invasion of Ukraine in 2022 caused tens of thousands of tech workers to flee Russia.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/13/technology/russia-tech-workers.html Russian Tech Industry Faces 'Brain Drain' as Workers Flee], ''[[New York Times]]'', April 13, 2022.</ref><ref>[https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-immigration-kazakhstan-technology-c041eb0b7472668087bb94207de2f71d As Russia sees tech brain drain, other nations hope to gain], ''[[Associated Press]]'', March 31, 2022</ref> In 2024, the website of the science journal [[Science (journal)|''Science'']] stated that Russia experienced a multi-year brain drain in the science profession.<ref>[https://www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-russian-brain-drain-trump-s-nominees-and-long-distance-traveler-goes News at a glance: Russian brain drain, Trump's nominees, and a long-distance traveler goes extinct], website of the science journal [[Science (journal)|Science]]. 21 Nov 2024</ref> In 2024, the [[London Business School]] indicated that Russia's brain drain has become its economies biggest problem.<ref>[https://www.london.edu/news/brain-drain-destroying-russian-future Russia's brain drain has become its economy's biggest problem], [[London Business School]], September 2, 2024</ref>

According to BBC News:<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-06-03 |title=Why are people leaving Russia, who are they, and where are they going? |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65790759 |access-date=2023-07-09 |archive-date=2024-08-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240813201915/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65790759 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<blockquote>They come from different walks of life. Some are journalists like us, but there are also IT experts, designers, artists, academics, lawyers, doctors, PR specialists, and linguists. Most are under 50. Many share western liberal values and hope Russia will be a democratic country one day. Some are LGBTQ+. Sociologists studying the current Russian emigration say there is evidence that those leaving are younger, better educated and wealthier than those staying. More often they are from bigger cities.</blockquote>

According to Johannes Wachs, "The exodus of skilled human capital, sometimes called brain drain, out of Russia may have a significant effect on the course of the war and the Russian economy in the long run."<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140/epjds/s13688-023-00389-3.pdf | doi=10.1140/epjds/s13688-023-00389-3 | title=Digital traces of brain drain: Developers during the Russian invasion of Ukraine | year=2023 | last1=Wachs | first1=Johannes | journal=EPJ Data Science | volume=12 | issue=1 | article-number=14 | pmid=37215283 | pmc=10184088 | archive-date=2023-07-17 | access-date=2023-07-17 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230717061026/https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140/epjds/s13688-023-00389-3.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Southeastern Europe ====
{{Expand section|date=June 2023}}

The rapid but small-scale departure of highly skilled workers from Southeastern Europe has caused concern about those nations developing deeper integration in the European Union.<ref>Horvat, Vedran: {{cite web |url= http://www.seep.ceu.hu/archives/issue51/horvat.pdf |title= Brain Drain. Threat to Successful Transition in South East Europe? }}&nbsp;{{small|(58.6&nbsp;KB)}}In: [http://www.seep.ceu.hu Southeast European Politics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126094406/http://www.seep.ceu.hu/ |date=2009-01-26 }}, Volume V, Number 1, May 2004</ref> This has given rise to programs to curb the outflow by encouraging skilled technicians and scientists to remain in the region to work on international projects.<ref>[http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=23156&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Stemming brain drain with the Grid in Southeast Europe] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201075614/http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D23156%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html |date=1 February 2009 }} – UNESCO</ref>

Serbia is one of the top countries that has experienced human capital flight due to the [[dissolution of Yugoslavia|fall of Yugoslavia]] and its successive [[Yugoslav Wars|civil wars]]. In 1991, people started emigrating to Italy and Greece, and then began going farther, to the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. In the last ten years,{{when|date=June 2023}} educated people and professionals have been leaving the country and going to other countries where they feel they can have improved possibilities for better and secure lives. According to a report on "migration and brain drain" in the Western Balkans, published in 2024, "young people leave these countries not only because of low salaries and economic issues but also because of corruption, crime, political instability and lack of security."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://balkaninsight.com/2024/10/14/reversing-youth-exodus-from-western-balkans-will-be-hard-report-warns/ | title=Reversing Youth Exodus from Western Balkans Will be Hard, Report Warns | date=14 October 2024 | access-date=30 January 2025 | archive-date=7 February 2025 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250207185510/https://balkaninsight.com/2024/10/14/reversing-youth-exodus-from-western-balkans-will-be-hard-report-warns/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

A major cause of human capital flight in countries like Moldova and Ukraine is lack of economic opportunities and corruption. The higher economic class in the country, filled with local and Russian oligarchs, has control over the whole economic system. Young, educated people have few economic opportunities unless they have connections to individuals from the higher class. This encourages them to emigrate and seek opportunities elsewhere.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dempsey|first=Judy|date=2016|title=How corruption is driving Eastern Europe's brain drain|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1823518294|newspaper=The Washington Post|id={{ProQuest|1823518294}}}}</ref>

==== Greece ====

While Greece experienced a significant "brain drain" during its financial crisis, with an estimated 600,000 professionals emigrating, a noticeable reversal—termed "brain gain"—has emerged in recent years. According to Eurostat data from 2025, approximately 350,000 of the 600,000 Greeks who left between 2010 and 2021 have since returned.<ref name="GreekReporter2025">{{Cite news|url=https://greekreporter.com/2025/05/02/reversing-brain-drain-greece-influx-returning-citizens/|title=Eurostat: 350,000 of 600,000 Greeks Who Fled Crisis Have Returned|date=2 May 2025|website=Greek Reporter|access-date=23 July 2025}}</ref>

The country's net migration balance turned positive in 2023 for the first time since 2008. Official figures from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) reported a net migration of +42,658, resulting from 118,816 arrivals versus 76,158 departures.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/b248e72c-2917-bdae-1d15-98d22787adb7|title=Press Release: Migration Flows in Greece, Year 2023|date=31 December 2024|website=Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT)|access-date=23 July 2025}}</ref>

Key drivers for this reversal include strong economic growth and targeted government policies. These incentives feature a notable 50% income tax cut for seven years for repatriating professionals, a measure that has already benefited around 6,000 individuals. Additionally, targeted initiatives such as the ''Rebrain Greece'' platform have been established to connect returning talent with the domestic job market.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/c924577b-30b0-4786-a336-1a732c0e75b7|title=Greece's tax breaks lure professionals back home|date=21 July 2025|website=Financial Times|access-date=23 July 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1250529/turning-the-tide-on-the-brain-drain/|title=Turning the tide on the brain drain|date=10 October 2024|website=Ekathimerini|access-date=23 July 2025}}</ref>

====Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain====
Many citizens of the countries most stricken by the economic crisis in Europe have emigrated to countries such as Australia, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Angola and Argentina.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/dec/21/europe-migrants-crisis-irish-portuguese | location=London | work=The Guardian | first1=Helen | last1=Pidd | first2=Henry | last2=McDonald | first3=Helena | last3=Smith | first4=Tom | last4=Phillips | first5=Alison | last5=Rourke | title=Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis | date=21 December 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/dec/22/young-europeans-emigrate-argentina-jobs | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Uki | last=Goni | title=Young Europeans flock to Argentina for job opportunities | date=22 December 2011}}</ref>

===Africa===
Countries in Africa have lost a tremendous amount of their educated and skilled populations as a result of emigration to more developed countries, which has harmed the ability of such nations to climb out of poverty. [[Nigeria]], [[Kenya]] and [[Ethiopia]] are believed to be the most affected. According to the [[United Nations Development Programme]], Ethiopia lost 75% of its skilled workforce between 1980 and 1991.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

Then South African Deputy President [[Thabo Mbeki]] said in his 1998 "[[African Renaissance]]" speech:

<blockquote>
"In our world in which the generation of new knowledge and its application to change the human condition is the engine which moves human society further away from barbarism, do we not have need to recall Africa's hundreds of thousands of intellectuals back from their places of emigration in Western Europe and North America, to rejoin those who remain still within our shores!

I dream of the day when these, the African mathematicians and computer specialists in Washington and New York, the African physicists, engineers, doctors, business managers and economists, will return from London and Manchester and Paris and Brussels to add to the African pool of brain power, to enquire into and find solutions to Africa's problems and challenges, to open the African door to the world of knowledge, to elevate Africa's place within the universe of research the information of new knowledge, education and information."
</blockquote>

''Africarecruit'' is a joint initiative by [[NEPAD]] and the [[Commonwealth Business Council]] to recruit professional expatriate Africans to take employment back in Africa after working overseas.<ref>{{URL|http://www.africarecruit.com/}}</ref>

In response to growing debate over the human capital flight of [[healthcare professional]]s, especially from lower-income countries to some higher-income countries, in 2010 the [[World Health Organization]] adopted the [[Health Human Resources#Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel|Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel]], a policy framework for all countries for the ethical international recruitment of doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

African human capital flight has begun to reverse itself due to rapid growth and development in many African nations, and the emergence of an African middle class. Between 2001 and 2010, six of the world's ten fastest-growing economies were in Africa, and between 2011 and 2015, Africa's economic growth was expected to outpace that of Asia. This, together with increased development, introduction of technologies such as faster internet access and mobile phones, a better-educated population, and the environment for business driven by new tech start-up companies, has resulted in many expatriates from Africa returning to their home countries, and more Africans staying at home to work.<ref>{{cite web |author=Mike Pflanz |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2012/1021/Reverse-brain-drain-African-Lion-economies-vs-West-s-fast-track |title=Reverse brain drain: 'African Lion' economies vs West's fast track |publisher=CSMonitor.com |date=21 October 2012 |access-date=2013-12-18 |archive-date=2013-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219013629/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2012/1021/Reverse-brain-drain-African-Lion-economies-vs-West-s-fast-track |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Ghana====
The trend for young doctors and nurses to seek higher salaries and better working conditions, mainly in higher-income countries of the West, is having serious effects on the health care sector in [[Ghana]]. Ghana currently has about 3,600 doctors—one for every 6,700 inhabitants. This compares with one doctor per 430 people in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_phy_per_1000_peo-physicians-per-1-000-people |title=Physicians per 1,000 people (most recent) by country |publisher=World Development Indicators Database |access-date=2011-10-23 |archive-date=2014-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225173207/http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_phy_per_1000_peo-physicians-per-1-000-people |url-status=live }}</ref> Many of the country's trained doctors and nurses leave to work in countries such as Britain, the United States, Jamaica and Canada. It is estimated that up to 68% of the country's trained medical staff left between 1993 and 2000, and according to Ghana's official statistics institute, in the period 1999 to 2004, 448 doctors, or 54% of those trained in the period, left to work abroad.<ref>{{cite web |last=Price |first=Stuart |url=http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/1123986-1.html |title=Reversing the brain drain |publisher=All Business.com |date=1 November 2004 |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2009-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091208092938/http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/1123986-1.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Nigeria====
{{main|Human capital flight from Nigeria}}

====South Africa====
{{Main|Economy of South Africa#Brain drain}}
Along with many African nations, [[South Africa]] has been experiencing human capital flight in the past 20 years, since the end of [[apartheid]]. This is believed to be potentially damaging for the regional economy,<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Paul |last1=Collier |first2=Anke |last2=Hoeffler |first3=Catherine |last3=Pattillo |title=Africa's Exodus: Capital Flight and the Brain Drain as Portfolio Decisions |journal=[[Journal of African Economies]] |year=2004 |volume=13 |issue=Suppl. 2 |pages=ii15–ii54 |doi=10.1093/jae/ejh042 |citeseerx=10.1.1.203.2508 }}</ref> and is arguably detrimental to the wellbeing of the region's impoverished majority, which is desperately reliant on the [[health care]] infrastructure because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.equinetafrica.org/bibl/docs/healthpersonnel.pdf |title=Health Personnel in Southern Africa: Confronting maldistribution and brain drain |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430024959/http://www.equinetafrica.org/bibl/docs/healthpersonnel.pdf |archive-date=30 April 2011 }}</ref> The skills drain in South Africa tends to reflect racial contours exacerbated by [[Black Economic Empowerment]] policies, and has thus resulted in large [[White South African]] communities abroad.<ref name="mig_study">{{cite book |author1=Haroon Bhorat |author2=Jean-Baptiste Meyer|author3=Cecil Mlatsheni |year=2002 |title=Skilled Labour Migration from Developing Countries: Study on South and Southern Africa |series=International Migration Papers |volume=52 |url=http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/migrant/download/imp/imp52e.pdf |author1-link=Haroon Bhorat |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030418080432/http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/migrant/download/imp/imp52e.pdf |archive-date=18 April 2003}}</ref> The problem is further highlighted by South Africa's request in 2001 of Canada to stop recruiting its doctors and other highly skilled medical personnel.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ehman |first1=Amy Jo |first2=Patrick |last2=Sullivan |year=2001 |title=South Africa appeals to Canada to stop recruiting its MDs |journal=[[Canadian Medical Association Journal]] |volume=164 |issue=3 |pages=387–388 |url=http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/164/3/387.pdf |pmc=80740 |pmid=11232142}}</ref>

For the medical sector, the loss of return from investment for all doctors emigrating from South Africa is $1.41 billion. The benefit to destination countries is huge: $2.7 billion for the [[United Kingdom]] alone, without compensation.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Mills | first1 = EJ |display-authors=etal |title = The financial cost of doctors emigrating from sub-Saharan Africa: human capital analysis |journal = British Medical Journal | volume = 2011 |page = 343 }}</ref>

More recently, in a case of [[reverse brain drain]] a net 359,000 highly skilled South Africans returned to South Africa from foreign work assignments over a five-year period from 2008 to 2013. This was catalysed by the [[2008 financial crisis]] and perceptions of a higher quality of life in South Africa relative to the countries to which they had first emigrated. It is estimated that around 37% of those who returned are professionals such as lawyers, doctors, engineers and accountants.<ref name="bdlive1">{{cite web | url=http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/labour/2014/01/14/expertise-flows-back-into-sa-as-brain-drain-is-reversed | title=Expertise flows back into SA as brain drain is reversed | publisher=Business Day | date=14 January 2014 | access-date=14 January 2014 | author=Hedley, Nick | archive-date=18 January 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118081039/http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/labour/2014/01/14/expertise-flows-back-into-sa-as-brain-drain-is-reversed | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Asia===
====Middle East====
===== Arab world =====
By 2010, the [[Arab countries]] were experiencing human capital flight, according to reports from the [[United Nations]] and [[Arab League]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}} About one million Arab experts and specialists were living in developed countries, and the rate of return was extremely low. The reasons for this included attraction to opportunities in technical and scientific fields in the West and an absence of job opportunities in the Arab world, as well as wars and political turmoil that have plagued many Arab nations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/brain-drain-costs-arab-world-dearly |title=Brain drain costs Arab world dearly &#124; The National |publisher=Thenational.ae |date=28 April 2010 |access-date=2013-12-18}}</ref>

In 2012, human capital flight was showing signs of reversing, with many young students choosing to stay and more individuals from abroad returning. In particular, many young professionals are becoming entrepreneurs and starting their own businesses rather than going abroad to work for companies in Western countries. This was partially a result of the [[Arab Spring]], after which many Arab countries began viewing science as the driving force for development, and as a result stepped up their science programs. Another reason may be the ongoing global recession.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arabnews.com/middle-east-brain-drain-shows-signs-reversing |title=Middle East brain drain shows signs of reversing &#124; Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more |publisher=Arabnews.com |date=26 July 2012 |access-date=2013-12-18 |archive-date=2013-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102012015/http://www.arabnews.com/middle-east-brain-drain-shows-signs-reversing |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Bothina Osama |url=http://www.scidev.net/en/middle-east-and-north-africa/editorials/promise-for-science-after-the-arab-spring-1.html |title=Promise for science after the Arab Spring |publisher=SciDev.Net |access-date=2013-12-18 |archive-date=2013-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414235612/http://www.scidev.net/en/middle-east-and-north-africa/editorials/promise-for-science-after-the-arab-spring-1.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

======Iraq======
During the [[Iraq War]], especially during the early years, the lack of basic services and security fed an outflow of professionals from [[Iraq]] that began under [[Saddam Hussein]], under whose rule four million Iraqis are believed to have left the country.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hawley |first=Caroline |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4726281.stm |title=Brain drain puts new strain on Iraq |work=BBC News |date=28 July 2005 |access-date=2011-02-28}}</ref> In particular, the exodus was fed by the violence that plagued Iraq, which by 2006 had seen 89 university professors and senior lecturers killed.<ref>{{cite news|author=Jonathan Steele |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/mar/24/iraq.jonathansteele |title=The Iraqi brain drain |newspaper=The Guardian |date=24 March 2006 |access-date=2011-02-28 |location=London}}</ref>

=====Iran=====
{{Main|Human capital flight from Iran}}

In 2006, the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF) ranked [[Iran]] "first in brain drain among 61 developing and less developed countries (LDCs)".<ref>{{cite news |first=Frances |last=Harrison |title=Huge cost of Iranian brain drain |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6240287.stm |work=BBC News |date=8 January 2007 |access-date=2007-01-08 |archive-date=2007-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070109193238/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6240287.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1342682.html|title=Iran Report: April 12, 2004|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=11 November 2008|language=en|access-date=2019-08-23|archive-date=2016-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215405/http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1342682.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/1999/06/carringt.htm|title=Finance and Development|website=Finance and Development – F&D|access-date=2005-04-11|archive-date=2009-08-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831103411/http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/1999/06/carringt.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In the early 1990s, more than 150,000 Iranians emigrated, and an estimated 25% of Iranians with post-secondary education were residing in developed countries of the OECD. In 2009, the IMF reported that 150,000–180,000 Iranians emigrate annually, with up to 62% of Iran's academic elite having emigrated, and that the yearly exodus is equivalent to an annual capital loss of $50 billion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.payvand.com/news/12/may/1297.html |title=Iran Faced With Growing Brain Drain: Report |publisher=Payvand.com |access-date=2013-12-18 |archive-date=2017-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425200026/http://www.payvand.com/news/12/may/1297.html }}</ref> Better possibilities for job markets is thought to be the motivation for absolute majority of the human capital flight while a small few stated their reasons as in search of more social or political freedom.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6240287.stm|title=Huge cost of Iranian brain drain|date=2007-01-08|access-date=2019-08-23|language=en-GB|archive-date=2017-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115005936/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6240287.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2011/02/110214_l28_250_thousand_iranian_specialists_america |title=BBC فارسی – ايران – وزارت علوم:۲۵۰ هزار متخصص ايرانى در آمريكای شمالی هستند |work=BBC News |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2011-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218142958/http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2011/02/110214_l28_250_thousand_iranian_specialists_america.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

===== Israel =====
{{Main|Yerida}}
[[Israel]] has experienced varying levels of emigration throughout its history, with the majority of Israeli expatriates moving to the United States. Currently, some 330,000 native-born Israelis (including 230,000 Israeli Jews) are estimated to be living abroad, while the number of immigrants to Israel who later left is unclear. According to public opinion polls, the main motives for leaving Israel have not been the political and security situation, but include desire for higher living standards, pursuit of work opportunities and/or professional advancement, and higher education. Many Israelis with degrees in scientific or engineering fields have emigrated abroad, largely due to lack of job opportunities. From Israel's establishment in May 1948 to December 2006, about 400,000 doctors and academics left Israel. In 2009, Israel's Council for Higher Education informed the [[Knesset]]'s Education Committee that 25% of Israel's academics were living overseas, and that Israel had the highest human capital flight rate in the world. However, an OECD estimate put the highly educated Israeli emigrant rate at 5.3 per 1,000 highly educated Israelis, meaning that Israel actually retains more of its highly educated population than many other developed countries.

In addition, the majority of Israelis who emigrate eventually return after extended periods abroad. In 2007, the Israeli government began a program to encourage Israelis living abroad to return; since then, the number of returning Israelis has doubled, and in 2010, Israeli expatriates, including academics, researchers, technical professionals and business managers, began returning in record numbers. The country launched additional programs to open new opportunities in scientific fields to encourage Israeli scientists and researchers living abroad to return home. These initiatives have since succeeded in luring many Israeli scientists back home.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3335312,00.html|title=Israel's brain drain worsening – Israel News, Ynetnews|newspaper=Ynetnews|date=20 June 1995|publisher=Ynetnews.com|access-date=2013-12-18|last1=Zinger|first1=Zvi}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3795641,00.html|title=Educational body: Israeli academia's future bleak – Israel News, Ynetnews|newspaper=Ynetnews|date=20 June 1995|publisher=Ynetnews.com|access-date=2013-12-18|last1=Zelikovich|first1=Yaheli Moran}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4387934,00.html|title=Government launches program to fight brain drain – Israel News, Ynetnews|newspaper=Ynetnews|date=4 June 2013|publisher=Ynetnews.com|access-date=2013-12-18|last1=Chai|first1=Shahar}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3862105,00.html|title=Plan to fight brain drain approved – Israel News, Ynetnews|newspaper=Ynetnews|date=20 June 1995|publisher=Ynetnews.com|access-date=2013-12-18|last1=Sofer|first1=Roni|archive-date=2013-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217220343/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3862105,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israeli-expats-returning-home-in-record-numbers|title=Israeli expats returning home in record numbers &#124; JPost &#124; Israel News|last=Ziri|first=Danielle|date=15 October 2012|publisher=JPost|access-date=2013-12-18|archive-date=2013-11-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102054032/http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israeli-expats-returning-home-in-record-numbers|url-status=live}}</ref>

===== Turkey =====
In the 1960s, many skilled and educated people emigrated from [[Turkey]], including many doctors and engineers. This emigration wave is believed to have been triggered by political instability, including the [[1960 Turkish coup d'état|1960 military coup]]. In later decades, into the 2000s, many Turkish professionals emigrated, and students studying overseas chose to remain abroad, mainly due to better economic opportunities. This human capital flight was given national media attention, and in 2000, the government formed a task force to investigate the "brain drain" problem.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.erf.org.eg/CMS/uploads/pdf/0307.pdf |title='Brain drain' from Turkey: Survey evidence of student non-return |access-date=2013-06-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006203941/http://www.erf.org.eg/CMS/uploads/pdf/0307.pdf |archive-date=6 October 2013 }}</ref>

====Southeast Asia====
{{globalize|section|Philippines|date=May 2017}}

=====Indonesia=====
{{See also|KaburAjaDulu}}
While there is no empirical data about human capital flight from [[Indonesia]], the brain drain phenomenon in Indonesia was estimated to reach 5%.  After the [[May 1998 riots of Indonesia]], many [[Chinese Indonesians]] decided to flee to other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States which severely contributes to brain drain within the country. [[Indonesian Aerospace]] laid off some two thirds of its workforce after the [[1997 Asian financial crisis]], leading many workers to leave their country to find a better career overseas. As of 2018, there are at least 60 Indonesians graduated from local or overseas universities working at [[Boeing]] and [[Airbus]], with half of them holding middle management positions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://yonulis.com/2019/10/05/fenomena-brain-drain-hilangnya-otak-negara/|title=IPTN: Icon Hilangnya Otak Negara|date=Oct 5, 2019|access-date=February 2, 2020|archive-date=February 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202142713/https://yonulis.com/2019/10/05/fenomena-brain-drain-hilangnya-otak-negara/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2023, it was reported that over 4,000 Indonesians acquired Singaporean citizenship between 2019 and 2022. Most of these are young people, students in the ages 25 – 35 and degree holders.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-30 |title='Losing talent': flight of young Indonesians to Singapore alarms Jakarta |url=https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3229314/young-indonesians-secure-singapore-citizenship-many-lament-skills-mismatch-back-home |access-date=2023-08-19 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en |archive-date=2023-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230819020030/https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3229314/young-indonesians-secure-singapore-citizenship-many-lament-skills-mismatch-back-home |url-status=live }}</ref> The main reasons given were better job prospects, scholarships, better healthcare, higher salaries and a good public transport.

In addition, 413 of the 35,536 recipients of the state and tax funded Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) did not return to Indonesia between 2013 and 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ratusan Alumni LPDP Enggak Balik ke Indonesia, Dianggap Berhutang pada Negara |url=https://narasi.tv/read/narasi-daily/ratusan-alumni-lpdp-enggak-balik-ke-indonesia-dianggap-berhutang-pada-negara |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=Narasi Tv |language=id}}</ref> They were required to return and work in Indonesia for several years after they concluded their studies.

=====Malaysia=====
There have been high rates of human capital flight from [[Malaysia]]. Major pull factors have included better career opportunities abroad and compensation, while major push factors included corruption, social inequality, educational opportunities, racial inequality such as the government's [[Bumiputera (Malaysia)|Bumiputera]] [[affirmative action]] policies. As of 2011, [[Bernama]] has reported that there are a million talented Malaysians working overseas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsbusiness.php?id=582698 |title=Malaysian Diaspora Reach One Million in 2010 – World Bank Official |publisher=Bernama |date=28 April 2011 |access-date=2011-04-28 |archive-date=2012-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907143503/http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsbusiness.php?id=582698 |url-status=live }}</ref> Recently human capital flight has increased in pace: 305,000 Malaysians migrated overseas between March 2008 and August 2009, compared to 140,000 in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2308&Itemid=199 |title=Malaysia's Brain |publisher=Asia Sentinel |date=18 February 2010 |access-date=2011-04-28 |archive-date=2011-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523075711/http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2308&Itemid=199 }}</ref>
Non-Bumiputeras, particularly [[Malaysian Indians]] and [[Malaysian Chinese]], were over-represented in these statistics. Popular destinations included Singapore, Australia and the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysias-brain-drain-getting-worse-says-world-bank/ |title=Malaysia's brain drain getting worse, says World Bank |newspaper=Malaysian Insider |date=28 April 2011 |access-date=2011-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501064204/http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysias-brain-drain-getting-worse-says-world-bank |archive-date=1 May 2011 }}</ref> This is reported to have caused Malaysia's economic growth rate to fall to an average of 4.6% per annum in the 2000s compared to 7.2% in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/social-injustice-main-cause-of-countrys-brain-drain-says-world-bank/ |title=Social injustice main cause of country's brain drain |newspaper=Malaysian Insider |date=28 April 2011 |access-date=2011-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501064248/http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/social-injustice-main-cause-of-countrys-brain-drain-says-world-bank |archive-date=1 May 2011 }}</ref>

===== Philippines =====
{{further information|Overseas Filipino Worker|Philippine labor migration policy}}

======Post-colonial Philippines======
In 1946, colonialism in the [[Philippines]] ended with the election of [[Manuel Roxas]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brush |first1=Barbara L. |date=September 2010 |title=The Potent Lever of Toil: Nursing Development and Exportation in the Postcolonial Philippines |doi=10.2105/ajph.2009.181222 |pmid=20634458 |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=100 |issue=9|pages=1572–1581 |pmc=2920989}}</ref> The Philippines' infrastructure and economy had been devastated by [[Military history of the Philippines during World War II|World War II]], contributing to serious national health problems and uneven [[distribution of wealth]].<ref name="Brush, 1573">Brush, "The Potent Lever of Toil," 1573.</ref> As part of reconstruction efforts for the newly independent state, education of nurses was encouraged to combat the low ratio of 1 nurse per 12,000 Filipinos<ref>Brush, "The Potent Lever of Toil," 1574.</ref> and to help raise national health care standards. However Roxas, having spent his last three years as the secretary of finance and chairman of the National Economic Council and a number of other Filipino companies, was particularly concerned with the country's financial (rather than health) problems.<ref name="Brush, 1573"/> The lack of government funding for rural community clinics and hospitals, as well as low wages, continued to perpetuate low retention rates for nurses in rural areas and slow economic recovery. When the United States relaxed their Immigration Act laws in 1965, labour export emerged as a possible solution for the Philippines.

====== Labour export from the 1960s onwards ======
Since the 1960s and 1970s, the Philippines has been the largest supplier of nurses to the United States, in addition to export labour supplied to the UK and Saudi Arabia.<ref>Fely Marilyn Lorenzo, Jaime Galvez-Tan, Kriselle Icamina, Lara Javier, "Nurse Migration from a source country perspective: Philippine country case study," Health Services Research 42(3 part.2) 2007: 1411</ref> In 1965, with a recovering post-WWII economy and facing labour shortages, the United States introduced a new occupational clause to the Immigration Act.<ref name="Brush, 1575">Brush, "The Potent Lever of Toil," 1575.</ref> The clause encouraged migration of skilled labour into sectors experiencing a shortage,<ref name="Brush, 1575"/> particularly nursing, as well relaxing restrictions on race and origin.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ball |first=Rochelle E. |title=Divergent development, racialized rights: globalized labour markets and the trade of nurses — The case of the Philippines |journal=Women's Studies International Forum |volume=27 |issue=2 |page=122 |doi=10.1016/j.wsif.2004.06.003 |date=June–July 2004 }}</ref> This was seen as an opportunity for mass labour exportation by the Philippine government, and was followed by a boom in public and private nursing educational programs. Seeking access through the Exchange Visitors Program (EVP) sponsored by the US government, workers were encouraged to go abroad to learn more skills and earn higher pay, sending remittance payments back home.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Masselink |first1=Leah E. |last2=Daniel Lee |first2=Shoou-Yih |year=2010 |title=Nurses Inc.: Expansion and commercialization of nursing education in the Philippines |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=166–72 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.11.043 |pmid=20399550}}</ref> As nursing was a highly feminized profession, labour migrants through the beginning of the 1980s were predominantly female and young (25–30 years of age).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Joyce |first1=Richard E. |last2=Hunt |first2=Chester |year=1982 |title=Philippine Nurses and the Brain Drain |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=16 |issue=12 |pages=1223–33 |doi=10.1016/0277-9536(82)90147-2 |pmid=7112166}}</ref>

Pursuing economic gains through labour migration over infrastructural financing and improvement, the Philippines still faced slow economic growth during the 1970s and 1980s.<ref>Ball, "Divergent development, racialized rights," 121</ref> With continuously rising demand for nurses in the international service sector and overseas, the Philippine government aggressively furthered their educational programs [[Presidency of Ferdinand Marcos|under]] [[Ferdinand Marcos]], [[President of the Philippines|president]] at the time. Although complete statistical data are difficult to collect, studies done in the 1970s show 13,500 nurses (or 85% of all Filipino nurses) had left the country to pursue work elsewhere.<ref>Joyce and Hunt "Philippine Nurses and the Brain Drain," 1223</ref> Additionally, the number of existing public and private nursing school programs multiplied from a reported 17 nursing schools in 1950, to 140 nursing schools in 1970.<ref>Joyce and Hunt "Philippine Nurses and the Brain Drain," 1232</ref>

====== Remittances ======
Studies show stark wage discrepancies between the Philippines and developed countries such as the US and the UK. This has led Philippine government officials to note that [[remittance]]s sent home may be seen as more economically valuable than pursuit of local work. Around the turn of the 20th century, the average monthly wage of Filipino nurses who remained in their home country was between 550–1,000 pesos per month (roughly US$70–140 at that time).<ref name="ReferenceB">Joyce and Hunt "Philippine Nurses and the Brain Drain," 1229</ref> In comparison, the average nurse working in the US was receiving US$800–400 per month.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

However, scholars have noted that economic disparities in the Philippines have not been eased in the past decades. Although remittance payments account for a large portion of Filipino GDP (US$290.5 million in 1978, increased to US$10.7 billion in 2005),<ref name="ReferenceC">Lorenzo et al. "Nurse Migration from a Source Country Perspective," 1407</ref> and are therefore regarded as a large economic boost to the state, Filipino unemployment has continued to rise (8.4% in 1990, increased to 12.7% in 2003).<ref name="ReferenceC"/> Here scholars have begun to look at the culture of nurse migration endorsed by the Philippine state as a contributing factor to the country's economic and health problems.

====== Education industry ======
In addition to the [[Philippine Overseas Employment Administration]] (POEA) run by the government that serves as both a source of overseas recruitment agreements and as a marketer of Philippine labour overseas, private nursing schools have acted as migration funnels, expanding enrolment, asserting control over the licensure process, and entering into business agreements with other overseas recruitment agencies.<ref>Masselink et al.,"Nurses Inc.", 168</ref> However, retaining qualified instructors and staff has been reported to be as problematic as retaining actual nurses, contributing to low exam pass rates (only 12 of 175 reporting schools had pass rates of 90% or higher in 2005,<ref>Barbara L. Brush, "Global Nurse Migration Today", ''Journal of Nursing Scholarship'' 40(1) 2008: 22</ref> with an average pass rate of 42% across the country in 2006).<ref name="auto">Masselink et al.,"Nurses Inc.", 170</ref> Private schools have also begun to control licensure exam review centres, providing extra preparation for international qualification exams at extra cost and with no guarantee of success.<ref name="auto"/> It is estimated that between 1999 and 2006, US$700 million was spent on nursing education and licensure review courses by individuals who never took the licensing exams or completed the programming.<ref name="auto"/>

Discrepancies in wages between Philippine nurses working at home and those working abroad, as noted above, provide clear economic incentives for nurses to leave the country; however, physicians have also been lured into these promises of wealth through the creation of "Second Course" nursing programs.<ref>Masselink et al.,"Nurses Inc.", 169</ref> Studies comparing wages of Philippine nurses at home and abroad from 2005 to 2010, showed at-home nurses receiving US$170 per month, or $2,040 per annum, compared to US$3,000–4,000 per month in the US, or $36,000–48,000 per annum.<ref name="auto1">Brush, "The Potent Lever of Toil", 1579</ref> Philippine physician salaries for those working at home are not much more competitive; they earn on average US$300–800 per month, or US$3,600–9,600 per annum.<ref name="auto1"/> Although it is important to note along with such discrepancies that the costs of living are also higher in the US, and that remittance payment transfers back home are not free, there is still evidently a large economic pull to studying as a nurse and migrating overseas.

===== Vietnam =====
According to ''[[Viet Nam News]]'', 70% of Vietnamese students abroad did not return to [[Vietnam]]. ''[[The New York Times]]'' described [[Barack Obama]]'s remarks at the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative on conditions that cause brain drain as "slyly" describing Vietnam, with corruption, pollution and poor education.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/world/asia/obama-vietnam-visit.html |title=Obama, Perhaps Slyly, Calls Attention to Vietnam's Brain Drain |last=Harris |first=Gardiner |work=The New York Times |date=25 May 2016 |access-date=29 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.entitymag.com/vietnamese-talent-brains-choosing-emigrate/|title=Why Vietnamese Talent and Brains Are Choosing to Emigrate Business|date=Nov 2, 2016|access-date=February 2, 2020|archive-date=February 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202143305/https://www.entitymag.com/vietnamese-talent-brains-choosing-emigrate/|url-status=live}}</ref>

More recent news suggests that a so-called brain gain may be occurring. A 2016 study found that 70% of overseas professionals were interested in returning to Vietnam, with many thousands already having done so.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-03-04|title=A brain drain in reverse: Vietnam's economy thrives as top talents return {{!}} ASEAN Today|url=https://www.aseantoday.com/2019/03/a-brain-drain-in-reverse-vietnams-economy-thrives-as-top-talents-return/|access-date=2021-10-05|website=www.aseantoday.com|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005060155/https://www.aseantoday.com/2019/03/a-brain-drain-in-reverse-vietnams-economy-thrives-as-top-talents-return/|url-status=live}}</ref>

====South Asia====
=====India=====

[[India]] has seen massive emigration since the 1980s, and most Indian scholars seek to settle abroad for better opportunities. Major push factors include a lack of research facilities, low ease of doing business, and fewer opportunities due to a lack of skills and innovation. {{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}

Studies have found that, since 2014, 23,000 millionaires and, since 2019, nearly 7,000 millionaires (2% of India's [[High-net-worth individual]]s at the time) have emigrated from India.<ref>{{cite web |title=How the Great Indian Brain Drain is taking a toll on the economy |url=https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/how-the-great-indian-brain-drain-is-taking-a-toll-on-the-economy-7896471.html |website=Moneycontrol |date=5 January 2022 |access-date=17 November 2022 |archive-date=17 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117030151/https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/how-the-great-indian-brain-drain-is-taking-a-toll-on-the-economy-7896471.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=====Nepal=====

Every year, 250,000 youths are reported to leave [[Nepal]] for various reasons. They seek opportunity in its various manifestations—higher living standards, employment, better income, education, an alluring western lifestyle, stability and security.<ref>[http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Who+pays+the+price+for+Nepal%27s+brain+drain%3F&NewsID=258227 Who pays the price for Nepal's brain drain? ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105022013/http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Who+pays+the+price+for+Nepal%27s+brain+drain%3F&NewsID=258227 |date=2011-01-05 }}, ''The Himalayan Times''</ref>

=====Pakistan=====

According to the Pakistan Economic Survey for 2023-24, over 13.53 million Pakistanis have officially emigrated to over 50 countries for work by April 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title= |url=https://www.finance.gov.pk/survey/chapter_24/12_population.pdf}}</ref> Pakistan has been seeing a large number of its educated youth immigrating to foreign countries, more particularly to the Gulf and west, since the change of Government in April 2022. A major contributor for this is corruption, political instability, better living standards and more opportunities. Immigration rate had slowed during PM Imran Khan's reign but rapidly increased after the change of Government in April 2022.

=====Sri Lanka=====
[[Sri Lanka]] has lost a significant portion of its intellectuals, mainly due to [[Sri Lankan civil war|civil war]] and the resulting uncertainty that prevailed in the country for the thirty-year period prior to the end of the conflict in 2009.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}} Most of these sought refuge in countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada and Great Britain. In recent years, many expatriates have indicated interest in returning to Sri Lanka, but have been deterred by slow economic growth and political instability. Both the government and private organizations are making efforts to encourage professionals to return to Sri Lanka and to retain resident intellectuals and professionals.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}}

==== China ====
With rapid GDP growth and a higher degree of openness towards the rest of the world, there has been an upsurge in Chinese emigration to Western countries—particularly the United States, Canada and Australia.<ref name="jamestown.org">{{cite news |last=Lam |first=Willy |url=http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=36719&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=0ab857a4ff |title=China's Brain Drain Dilemma: Elite Emigration |newspaper=Jamestown |publisher=The Jamestown Foundation |date=5 August 2010 |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2011-07-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727123026/http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews&#91;tt_news&#93;=36719&tx_ttnews&#91;backPid&#93;=7&cHash=0ab857a4ff |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2013, 4% of the world's migrants came from China.<ref name="Xiang_2016">{{cite report |last=Xiang |first=Biao |date=February 2016 |title=Emigration Trends and Policies in China |url=https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/TCM_Emigration-China-FINAL.pdf |publisher=[[Migration Policy Institute]] |access-date=2024-03-14}}</ref> According to the official Chinese media, in 2009, 65,000 Chinese secured immigration or permanent resident status in the United States, 25,000 in Canada and 15,000 in Australia.<ref name="jamestown.org"/> The largest group of emigrants consists of professionals and experts with a middle-class background,<ref name="jamestown.org"/> raising concerns about a "brain drain" of the people who contribute most to the development of China.<ref name="Xiang_2016" /> According to a 2007 study, seven out of every ten students from China who enroll in an overseas university never return to live in their homeland.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/02/internationaleducationnews.highereducation |location=London |work=The Guardian |first=Jonathan |last=Watts |title=China fears brain drain as its overseas students stay put |date=2 June 2007}}</ref>

===Australasia===
====Pacific Islands====
The post-WWII migration trends in the Pacific Islands have essentially followed this pattern{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}}:
* Most Pacific island nations that were formerly under UK mandate have had migration outflows to Australia and New Zealand since the [[Decolonisation of Oceania|decolonisation of the region]] from the 1960s to the 1990s. There has only been a limited outflow from these islands to Canada and the UK since decolonisation. [[Fiji]], [[Tonga]] and [[Samoa]] also have had large outflows to the United States.
* Most Pacific islands administered by France (like Tahiti) have had an outflow to France.
* Most Pacific islands under some kind of US administration have had outflows to the US and, to a lesser extent, Canada.

====New Zealand====
During the 1990s, 30,000 New Zealanders were emigrating each year. An [[OECD]] report released in 2005 revealed that 24.2% of [[New Zealand]]ers with a tertiary education were living outside of New Zealand, predominantly in [[Australia]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=209&objectid=10114923 |title=Quarter of NZ's brightest are gone |publisher=Nzherald.co.nz |date=12 March 2005 |access-date=2011-02-28 |first=Simon |last=Collins}}</ref> In 2007, around 24,000 New Zealanders settled in Australia.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10465795 |title=NZ top source of immigrants to Australia |newspaper=New Zealand Herald |date=25 September 2007 |access-date=2011-02-28}}</ref>

During the 2008 election campaign, the National Party campaigned on the ruling Labour Party's inability to keep New Zealanders at home, with a series of billboards announcing "Wave goodbye to higher taxes, not your loved ones".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.3news.co.nz/National-unveils-first-billboard-of-election-campaign/tabid/419/articleID/69486/Default.aspx |work=3 News NZ |title=National unveils first billboard of election campaign |date=1 September 2008 |access-date=2012-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809124439/http://www.3news.co.nz/National-unveils-first-billboard-of-election-campaign/tabid/419/articleID/69486/Default.aspx |archive-date=2014-08-09 }}</ref> However, four years after the National Party won that election, the exodus to Australia had intensified, surpassing 53,000 per annum in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.3news.co.nz/Brain-drain-to-Australia-hits-another-new-high/tabid/423/articleID/266216/Default.aspx |work=3 News NZ |title=Brain drain hits new high |date=21 August 2012 |access-date=2012-12-05| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140809122342/http://www.3news.co.nz/Brain-drain-to-Australia-hits-another-new-high/tabid/423/articleID/266216/Default.aspx |archive-date=2014-08-09 }}</ref> Prime Minister [[John Key]] blamed the [[2008 financial crisis]] for the continuing drain.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.3news.co.nz/Key-stands-by-brain-drain-promise/tabid/419/articleID/233734/Default.aspx |work=3 News NZ |title=Key stands by brain drain promise |date=23 November 2011 |access-date=2012-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809121055/http://www.3news.co.nz/Key-stands-by-brain-drain-promise/tabid/419/articleID/233734/Default.aspx |archive-date=2014-08-09}}</ref>

It was estimated in December 2012 that 170,000 New Zealanders had left for Australia since the Key government came to power in late 2008.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.3news.co.nz/National-driving-Kiwis-overseas---Labour/tabid/1607/articleID/279388/Default.aspx |work=3 News NZ |title=National driving Kiwis overseas – Labour |date=6 December 2012 |access-date=2012-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404055513/http://www.3news.co.nz/National-driving-Kiwis-overseas---Labour/tabid/1607/articleID/279388/Default.aspx |archive-date=2013-04-04}}</ref> However, this net migration was reversed soon after, with a net migration gain of 1,933 people achieved in 2016.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11937541 |date=29 October 2017 |title=Return to Oz: Is the brain drain back? |archive-date=6 October 2018 |access-date=6 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006035213/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11937541 |url-status=live }}</ref> Economist Paul Bloxham described New Zealand's strong economy, with a housing and construction boom at the time.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/12/new-zealands-rock-star-economy-takes-centre-stage-as-currency-climbs| date=12 April 2015|title=New Zealand's rock star economy takes centre stage as currency climbs}}</ref> Australia's weaker economy and reduced investment in mining industries during this time were also mentioned as key factors.

New Zealand enjoys immigration of qualified foreigners, potentially leaving a net gain of skills.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Hayden |last1=Glass |first2=Wai Kin |last2=Choy |url=http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/wp/2001/01-22 |title=Brain Drain or Brain Exchange? |publisher=New Zealand Treasury Working Paper 01/22 |date=December 2001 |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2010-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201144451/http://treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/wp/2001/01-22 }}</ref> Nevertheless, one reason for New Zealand's attempt to target immigration at 1% of its population per year is because of its high rate of emigration, which leaves its migration balance either neutral or slightly positive.

===North America===
====Canada====
Colonial administrators in [[Province of Canada|Canada]] observed the trend of human capital flight to the United States as early as the 1860s, when it was already clear that a majority of immigrants arriving at [[Quebec City]] were en route to destinations in the United States. Alexander C. Buchanan, government agent at Quebec, argued that prospective [[emigrants]] should be offered free land to remain in Canada. The issue of attracting and keeping the right immigrants has sometimes been central to Canada's immigration history.<ref>[http://www.collectionscanada.ca/immigrants/021017-2112.03-e.html Moving Here, Staying Here: The Canadian Immigrant Experience] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930182928/http://www.collectionscanada.ca/immigrants/021017-2112.03-e.html |date=2007-09-30 }} – "Immigration," ''Annual Report of the Minister of the Province of Canada for the Year 1865'', pages 10–15.</ref>

In the 1920s, over 20% of university graduating classes in engineering and science were emigrating to the United States. When governments displayed no interest, concerned industrialists formed the [[Technical Service Council]] in 1927 to combat the brain drain. As a practical means of doing so, the council operated a placement service that was free to graduates.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}}

By 1976, the council had placed over 16,000 men and women. Between 1960 and 1979 over 17,000 engineers and scientists emigrated to the United States. However, the exodus of technically trained Canadians dropped from 27% of graduating classes in 1927 to under 10% in 1951 and 5% in 1967.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}}

In Canada today, the idea of a brain drain to the United States is occasionally a domestic political issue. At times, brain drain is used as a justification for [[income tax]] cuts. During the 1990s, some alleged a brain drain from Canada to the United States, especially in the [[software]], [[aerospace]], [[health care]] and [[entertainment]] industries, due to the perception of higher wages and lower income taxes in the US.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/taxes.htm |title=Tax Surprise: Most Canadians pay less tax than Americans |publisher=Canadiansocialresearch.net |date=6 November 1999 |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2011-06-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110625094557/http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/taxes.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Some also suggest that engineers and scientists were also attracted by the greater diversity of jobs and a perceived lack of research funding in Canada.

The evidence suggests that, in the 1990s, Canada did lose some of its homegrown talent to the US.<ref name="straightgoods.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.straightgoods.com/Analyze/0018.shtml |title=Canada's 'Brain Drain' a trickle not a flood: New StatsCan report on immigration/emigration shows we gain as much brain as we drain |publisher=Straightgoods.com |date=7 June 2000 |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310061324/http://www.straightgoods.com/Analyze/0018.shtml |archive-date=10 March 2011}}</ref> Nevertheless, Canada hedged against these losses by attracting more highly skilled workers from abroad. This allowed the country to realize a net brain gain as more professionals entered Canada than left.<ref name="straightgoods.com"/> Sometimes, the qualifications of these migrants are given no recognition in Canada (see [[credentialism]]), resulting in some—though not all—highly skilled professionals being forced into lower paying service sector jobs.

In the mid-2000s, Canada's resilient economy, strong domestic market, high standard of living, and considerable wage growth across a number of sectors, effectively ended the brain drain debate.<ref name="Maclean's">{{cite magazine|author=Duncan Hood |url=http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/article.jsp?content=20080625_50113_50113 |title=Special Canada Day Report: How Canada stole the American Dream |magazine=Maclean's |date=25 June 2008 |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225135116/http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/article.jsp?content=20080625_50113_50113 |archive-date=25 February 2011 }}</ref><ref name="td.com">[http://www.td.com/economics/special/alta03.pdf The Calgary-Edmonton Corridor "US-style wealth, Canadian-style quality of life"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040723150700/http://www.td.com/economics/special/alta03.pdf |date=23 July 2004 }} – TD Economics Special Report, April 2003</ref> Canada's economic success even prompted some top US talent to migrate north.<ref name="Maclean's"/><ref name="td.com"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nationalpost.com/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20100912134202/http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Doctor+drain+turns+gain+Physicians+move+north/3497414/story.html|title=Home &#124; The National Post Home Page &#124; National Post|website=nationalpost|archive-date=2010-09-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Calamai |first=Peter |url=https://www.thestar.com/article/293332 |title=Brain Drain? That's so nineties |work=The Star |date=12 January 2008 |access-date=2011-02-28 |location=Toronto}}</ref><ref name="theglobeandmail.com">[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadas-200-million-lure-pulls-in-19-big-name-researchers/article1572362/ "Canada's $200-million lure pulls in 19 big-name researchers"] – ''The Globe And Mail'' | National, May 2010</ref> Anecdotal evidence also suggests that stringent US security measures put in place after the [[9/11 attacks]] have helped to temper the brain drain debate in Canada.<ref>Jeff Colgan, ''The Promise and Peril of International Trade,'' (2005) pp 141ff.</ref>

====Caribbean====
Many of the [[Caribbean|Caribbean Islands]] endure a constant and substantial emigration of qualified workers. Approximately 30% of the labour forces of many islands have left, and more than 80% of college graduates from [[Suriname]], [[Haiti]], [[Grenada]] and [[Guyana]] have emigrated, mostly to the United States.<ref>{{cite press release |first1=Alejandra |last1=Viveros |first2=Stevan |last2=Jackson |url=http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21109448~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html?cid=3001 |title=Latin America Shouldn't Bet Everything On Remittances |publisher=World Bank |date=31 October 2006 |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2011-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423034022/http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21109448~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html?cid=3001 |url-status=live }}</ref> Over 80% of [[Jamaica]]ns with higher education live abroad.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110723210301/http://www.migrationanddevelopment.net/popular-press-news/developing-lands-hit-hardest-by-brain-drain "Study finds small developing lands hit hardest by 'brain drain'"], Dugger, Celia, ''The New York Times'', 25 October 2005</ref> However, it is noted that these nationals pay valuable remittances. In [[Jamaica]], the money sent back amounts to 18% of [[GNP]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/webarchive/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fcaribbean%2Fnews%2Fstory%2F2007%2F07%2Fprintable%2F070720_ronsaunders23july.shtml |title=Brain drain or export earnings? |work=BBC News |date=23 July 2007 |access-date=2011-02-28}}</ref>

====United States====
The 2000 United States [[United States Census Bureau|Census]] led to a special report on domestic worker migration, with a focus on the movement of young, single, college-educated migrants.<ref>{{cite report |last=Franklin |first=Rachel |date=November 2003 |title=Migration of the Young, Single, and College Educated: 1995 to 2000 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/censr-12.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108174523/https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/censr-12.pdf |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-format=PDF}}</ref> The data show a trend of such people moving away from the [[Rust Belt]] and northern [[Great Plains]] region towards the [[Pacific States|West Coast]], [[Southwestern United States|Southwestern]] and [[Southern United States|Southeast]] United States. The largest net influx of young, single, college-educated persons was to the [[San Francisco Bay Area]].

Many predominantly rural communities in the [[Appalachia]] region of the United States have experienced a "brain drain" of young college students migrating to urban areas in and outside of Appalachia for employment, political reasons and opportunities offered in urban areas that rural communities are currently unable to.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vazzana, Rudi-Polloshka |first1=Caryn, Jeta |title=Appalachia Has Got Talent, But Why Does It Flow Away? A Study on the Determinants of Brain Drain From Rural USA |journal=Economic Development Quarterly |date=May 7, 2019 |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=220–233 |doi=10.1177/0891242419844320 |s2cid=164404424 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Schwartz |first1=Jeffrey |title=Development and Progress of the Appalachian Higher Education Network |url=https://www.arc.gov/publications/DevelopmentandProgressoftheAHENetworkES.asp |website=www.arc.gov |publisher=Appalachian Regional Commission |access-date=June 27, 2020}}</ref>

The country as a whole does not experience large-scale human capital flight as compared with other countries, with an emigration rate of only 0.7 per 1,000 educated people,<ref>{{cite news |last=Dattel |first=Lior |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/remembrance-and-independence-2013/why-israel-s-brain-stopped-draining.premium-1.515619 |title=Why Israel's brain stopped draining – Remembrance and Independence 2013 Israel News |newspaper=Haaretz |date=15 April 2013 |access-date=2013-12-18 |archive-date=2014-01-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101013538/http://www.haaretz.com/news/remembrance-and-independence-2013/why-israel-s-brain-stopped-draining.premium-1.515619 |url-status=live }}</ref> but it is often the destination of skilled workers migrating from elsewhere in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iadb.org/intal/intalcdi/PE/2008/02382a04.pdf |author=International Organization for Migration |year=2008 |title=World migration report 2008. Managing labor mobility in the evolving global economy |access-date=2013-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404171614/http://www19.iadb.org/intal/intalcdi/PE/2008/02382a04.pdf |archive-date=2016-04-04 }}</ref>

Regarding foreign scholars earning their degrees in the United States and returning to their home country, Danielle Guichard-Ashbrook of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been quoted as stating "We educate them, but then we don't make it easy for them to stay".<ref>{{cite news|last=Pagliery |first=Jose |url=https://money.cnn.com/2013/01/31/smallbusiness/stem-immigrants/index.html |title=America's immigrant student brain drain problem – Jan. 31, 2013 |publisher=Money.cnn.com |date=31 January 2013 |access-date=2013-12-18}}</ref>

{{See also|Education policy of the second Donald Trump administration#Academics leaving the US in response}}

===South America===
====Colombia====
In recent years, many people from younger generations (people born from 1994 onwards) have migrated out of [[Colombia]]. Many of them are looking for better employment opportunities elsewhere due to the political turmoil that has been going on in the past decades. In many cases, the flight of educated people from Colombia does not occur, due to a lack of economic resources from the people and no governmental support in any extracurricular endeavors (sports or liberal arts). Even though, Colombia has recently implemented programs to benefit people that have higher scores in the ICFES (a national exam mandated for every high-schooler in the country before graduation), such as the ICETEX (Instituto Colombiano de Crédito Educativo y Estudios Técnicos en el Exterior) scholarships; many people who score highly on these mandate exams end up migrating to other countries for higher education. Some may argue, including those who have scored highly in the ICFES, that they are taking the place of someone less fortunate who deserves, wants and will use an ICETEX scholarship.

====Cuba====
In 1997, [[Cuba]]n officials claimed that 31,000 Cuban doctors were deployed in 61 countries.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/02/AR2007020200987.html |title=Cuban Doctors Awaiting US Response |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2 February 2007 |access-date=2011-02-28}}</ref> A large number practice in South America. In 2007, it was reported that 20,000 were employed in [[Venezuela]] in exchange for nearly {{convert|100000|oilbbl}} of oil per day.<ref>{{cite news|first=Juan |last=Forero |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/25/MNGN4O8FAC1.DTL |title=Cuban doctors defect from Venezuela posts |newspaper=Washington Post |via=San Francisco Chronicle |date=25 February 2007 |access-date=2011-02-28}}</ref>

However, in Venezuela and [[Bolivia]], where another 1,700 doctors work, it is stated that as many as 500 doctors may have fled the missions in the years preceding 2007 into countries nearby.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> This number increased dramatically, with 1,289 visas being given to Cuban medical professionals in the United States alone in 2014, with the majority of Cuban medical personnel fleeing from Venezuela due to poor social conditions and not receiving adequate payment; the Cuban government allegedly receives the majority of payments while some doctors are left with about $100 per month in earnings.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lee|first1=Brianna|title=Cuban Doctors Flee Venezuela With The Help Of U.S. Parole Program|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/cuban-doctors-flee-venezuela-help-us-parole-program-1725034|access-date=18 November 2014|agency=International Business Times|date=17 November 2014|archive-date=18 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141118013216/http://www.ibtimes.com/cuban-doctors-flee-venezuela-help-us-parole-program-1725034|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Venezuela====
{{main|Venezuelan refugee crisis}}
Following the election of [[Hugo Chávez]] as president and his establishment of the [[Bolivarian Revolution]], millions of people emigrated from [[Venezuela]].<ref name=EUdiaspora>{{cite news|last1=Olivares|first1=Francisco|title=Best and brightest for export|url=http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/140913/best-and-brightest-for-export|access-date=24 September 2014|agency=El Universal|date=13 September 2014|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019152840/http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/140913/best-and-brightest-for-export|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=NEWSWEEKdiaspora>{{cite news|title=Hugo Chavez is Scaring Away Talent|url=http://www.newsweek.com/hugo-chavez-scaring-away-talent-80337|access-date=24 September 2014|agency=Newsweek|date=30 June 2009|archive-date=10 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310043709/http://www.newsweek.com/hugo-chavez-scaring-away-talent-80337|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=ENHaug28>{{cite news|last1=Maria Delgado|first1=Antonio|title=Venezuela agobiada por la fuga masiva de cerebros|url=http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2014/08/26/1828337/venezuela-agobiada-por-fuga-masiva.html|access-date=28 August 2014|work=El Nuevo Herald|date=28 August 2014|language=es|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140828045810/http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2014/08/26/1828337/venezuela-agobiada-por-fuga-masiva.html |archive-date=28 August 2014}}</ref> In 2009, it was estimated that more than 1 million Venezuelans emigrated since Hugo Chávez became president.<ref name=NEWSWEEKdiaspora/> It has been calculated that from 1998 to 2013, over 1.5 million Venezuelans, between 4% and 6% of the Venezuela's total population, left the country following the Bolivarian Revolution.<ref name=ENHaug28/> Academics and business leaders have stated that emigration from Venezuela increased significantly during the last years of Chávez's presidency and especially during the presidency of [[Nicolás Maduro]].<ref name=REUT15oct>{{cite news|last1=Symmes Cobb|first1=Julia|last2=Garcia Rawlins|first2=Carlos|title=Economic crisis, political strife drive Venezuela brain-drain|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-migration-idUSKCN0I41C820141015|access-date=15 October 2014|work=Reuters|date=15 October 2014|archive-date=9 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209001535/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-migration-idUSKCN0I41C820141015|url-status=live}}</ref>

An analysis of a study by the [[Central University of Venezuela]] titled "Venezuelan Community Abroad. A New Method of Exile" states that the Venezuelan refugee crisis was caused by the "deterioration of both the economy and the social fabric, rampant crime, uncertainty and lack of hope for a change in leadership in the near future".<ref name=EUdiaspora/> The study states that of the more than 1.5 million Venezuelans who had left the country following the Bolivarian Revolution, more than 90% of those who left were college graduates, with 40% holding a [[master's degree]] and 12% having a [[doctorate]] or post doctorate.<ref name="ENHaug28"/><ref name="Elimpulso23AUG">{{cite news|date=23 August 2014|title=El 90% de los venezolanos que se van tienen formación universitaria|website=El Impulso|url=http://elimpulso.com/articulo/el-90-de-los-venezolanos-que-se-van-tienen-formacion-universitaria|access-date=28 August 2014|archive-date=17 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017034551/http://elimpulso.com/articulo/el-90-de-los-venezolanos-que-se-van-tienen-formacion-universitaria|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' stated that many "[[White-collar worker|white-collar]] Venezuelans have fled the country's high crime rates, soaring inflation and expanding [[State socialism|statist controls]]".<ref name=WSJ2011>{{cite news|last1=Gonzalez|first1=Angel|last2=Minaya|first2=Ezequiel|title=Venezuelan Diaspora Booms Under Chávez|url=https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424053111904491704576573051332461710|access-date=8 October 2014|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=17 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017034551/http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424053111904491704576573051332461710|archive-date=2015-10-17}}</ref> Reasons for leaving cited by the former Venezuelan citizens studied included lack of freedom, high levels of insecurity and lack of opportunity in the country.<ref name=ENHaug28/><ref name=Elimpulso23AUG/> Some Venezuelan parents have encouraged their children to leave the country.<ref name="ENHaug28"/>

[[2019 Venezuelan blackouts]], which affected more than 30 million people nationwide and occurred intermittently over several months, sometimes lasting for days at a time, exacerbating the ongoing [[Crisis in Venezuela|socioeconomic and political crisis]], have been attributed by experts and the state-owned power company [[Corpoelec]] to a lack of maintenance and technical expertise in the country as a result of a brain drain.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Kurmanaev |first1=Anatoly |last2=Herrera |first2=Isayen |date=2019-03-11 |title=No End in Sight to Venezuela's Blackout, Experts Warn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/world/americas/venzuela-blackout-maduro.html |access-date=2025-02-27 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2021-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808081446/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/world/americas/venzuela-blackout-maduro.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Convergence (economics)]]
* [[Economic results of migration]]
* [[Diaspora]]
* [[Foot voting]]
* [[Care drain]]
* [[Human capital]]
* [[Intelligentsia]]
* [[Knowledge transfer]]
}}

== References ==

=== Citations ===
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{{Reflist}}

====Works cited====
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{Citation |last=Dowty |first=Alan |title=Closed Borders: The Contemporary Assault on Freedom of Movement |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1989 |isbn=0-300-04498-4}}
* {{Citation |last=Harrison |first=Hope Millard |title=Driving the Soviets Up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953–1961 |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-691-09678-3}}
* {{Citation |last=Pearson |first=Raymond |title=The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire |publisher=Macmillan |year=1998 |isbn=0-312-17407-1}}
* {{Citation |last=Thackeray |first=Frank W. |title=Events that changed Germany |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2004 |isbn=0-313-32814-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/eventsthatchange00fran}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{cite journal|last=Oberman|first=Kieran|url=http://www.pol.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/244315/Can_Brain_Drain_Justify_Immigraiton_Restrictions_published_article.pdf|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210308193317/http://www.pol.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/244315/Can_Brain_Drain_Justify_Immigraiton_Restrictions_published_article.pdf|archive-date=March 8, 2021|title=Can Brain Drain Justify Immigration Restrictions?|journal=[[Ethics (journal)|Ethics]]|volume=123|issue=3|date=April 2013|pages=427–455|jstor=10.1086/669567|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|doi=10.1086/669567|hdl=20.500.11820/4f452eb9-cc7a-43c7-9d65-8095a8624816|s2cid=170569171|hdl-access=free}}
{{Globalization|state=expanded}}
{{Immigration}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Brain drain| ]]
[[Category:Foreign workers]]
[[Category:Human migration]]
[[Category:Employment of foreign-born people]]