Graduate brain drain threatens poorest nations, says OECD
By David Turner in London
Published: March 23 2005 02:00 | Last updated: March 23 2005 02:00
More than half of known graduates from some of the world's poorest nations are living abroad in a brain drain that threatens the countries' long-term development, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned yesterday.
In a report entitled Trends in International Migration, the rich countries' think-tank fears "the possibility that emigration of highly skilled workers may adversely affect small countries", by "preventing them from reaching a critical mass of human resources, which would be necessary to foster long-term economic development".
Guyana is the biggest net exporter of skilled staff, with 83 per cent of its known graduates living in OECD countries. Much of the ethnic black elite in Britain, for example, is of Guyanan origin, including Trevor Phillips, chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, and Baroness Amos, leader of the House of Lords.
The next three countries - all with figures above 75 per cent - are also Caribbean states: Jamaica, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago. Some anglophone and Portuguese-speaking African countries also come high on the list, such as Mozambique, Ghana and Tanzania.
Emigration of the highly skilled from Asia is moderate in comparison, with only 3 per cent of known Indian and Chinese graduates, and 1.7 per cent of Brazilians, living in the OECD's 30 member states.
The OECD did not count graduates living abroad in non-OECD countries. An OECD analyst who worked on the report said the countries with the highest brain drain tended to be small, and "probably do not have a lot of opportunities in their domestic labour market".
Some, such as Haiti and Cyprus, have also suffered from political instability. The four Caribbean countries at the top of the list "are not far from the United States, which is a huge magnet for graduates".
Danny Sriskandarajah, an international expert on immigration, acknowledged that policymakers should be "concerned" about the exodus of qualified healthcare workers from sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the possible depletion of a governing class in small poor countries. But he warned against "compassionate racism", whereby countries might use such figures to justify limiting immigration, and said opportunities abroad increased the motivation to go to university in small, low-income countries.
Mr Sriskandarajah suggested the best way to address the problem was by improving labour market prospects in small poor countries through aid, investment in education and improved human rights.