m Brain drain or human capital flight is a large emigration of

individuals with technical skills or knowledge, normally due to

conflict, lack of opportunity, political instability, or health
risks. Brain drain is usually regarded as an economic cost,
since emigrants usually take with them the fraction of value of
their training sponsored by the government. It is a parallel of
capital flight which refers to the same movement of financial
capital. The term was coined by the Royal Society to describe
the emigration of "scientists and technologists" to North
America from post-war Europe. The converse phenomenon is
brain gain, which occurs when there is a large-scale
immigration of technically qualified persons. Brain drain can,
at least in theory, be stopped by providing individuals who
have expertise with career opportunities and giving them
opportunities to prove their capabilities.
m Brain drains are common amongst developing nations, such as
the former colonies of Africa,The island nations of the
Caribbean,]and particularly in centralized economies such as
former East Germany and the Soviet Union, where
marketable skills were not financially rewarded.
m !


m Brain drain phenomena in Europe fall into two

distinct trends. The first is an outflow of highly-
qualified scientists from Western Europe mostly
to the United States. The second is a migration of
skilled workers from Eastern and Southeastern
Europe into Western Europe, often made easy by
new EU membership,[although there is evidence
that the trend is slowing. The European Union
has noted a net loss of highly-skilled workers and
introduced a "blue card" policy ² much like the
American green card ² which "seeks to draw an
additional 20 million workers from Asia, Africa
and Latin America in the next two decades".
m a
!


m In 2006, over 250,000 Europeans emigrated to

the United States (164,285), Australia
(40,455),Canada (37,946) and New Zealand (30
262). Germany alone saw 155,290 people leave
the country (though mostly to destinations within
Europe).
m Ô  



m In many Latin American nations where enrollment at

local medical schools is very high, there is a chronic
shortage of doctors (with the exception of Cuba,
Uruguay and Argentina).
m A 2000 study revealed that a number of Latin
American countries had, over the years, suffered a
considerable loss of professionals. As a percentage of
each country's corps of university graduates, the
following percentages lived overseas:
m Country Loss of professionals Argentina 2.9%
Brazil 3.3% Chile 5.3% Colombia 11.0% Ecuador
10.9% Mexico 14.3% The same study revealed that
during the 1990s, a significant number of those who
emigrated from Latin America were specialized
professionals, constituting the following proportions
as a percent of each country's volume of emigrants:
m Country Loss of professionals Argentina 19.1%
Chile 15.6% Mexico 2.6% Peru 10.0%
m



m Conservatively speaking, "Brain drain has cost

the African continent over $4 billion in the
employment of 150,000 expatriate professionals
annually. "Ethiopia lost 75 per cent of its
skilled workforce between 1980 and 1991,"
which harms the ability of such nations to get
out of poverty. Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia are
believed to be the most affected. In the case of
Ethiopia, the country produces many excellent
doctors, but there are more Ethiopian doctors
in Chicago than there are in Ethiopia. South
African President Thabo Mbeki said in his 1998
'African Renaissance' speech:

"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."
m a
 

m 


m The lack of basic services and security is feeding an
outflow of professionals from Iraq that began under
Saddam Hussein, under whose rule 4 million Iraqis
are believed to have left the country.[43] The exodus
is fueled by violence, which, as of 2006, has seen 89
university professors and senior lecturers killed.

m 


m In 2006, the International Monetary Fund ranked

Iran highest in brain drain among 90 measured
countries.The estimated exodus of 150,000 people
per year is thought to be due to a poor job market,
and tense domestic social conditions.
 6
 

An opposite situation, in which many trained and talented
individuals seek entrance into a country, is called a 
 ; this
may create a brain drain in the nations that the individuals are
leaving. A Canadian symposium in 2000 gave circulation to the new
term, at a time when many highly skilled Canadians were moving to
the United States, while simultaneously many qualified immigrants
were coming to Canada from a number of different nations. This is
sometimes referred to as a 'brain transplant'.
m In 2000, the US Congress announced it was raising the annual cap
on the number of temporary work visas granted to highly skilled
professionals under its H1B visa program, from 115,000 to 195,000
per year, effective through 2003. That suggests a ballpark figure for
the influx of talent into the United States at that time. A significant
portion of this program was initiated by lobbyists from the computer
industry, including Bill Gates.In the same year the British
government, in cooperation with the Wolfson Foundation, a research
charity, launched a £20 million, five-year research award scheme
aimed at drawing the return of the UK's leading expatriate scientists
and sparking the migration of top young researchers to the United
Kingdom.