A JRC Science for Policy brief shows that while the emigration of talent can deprive migrant-sending countries of essential resources for sustainable development, migration prospects induce a beneficial additional skill accumulation in the vast majority of countries of origin.

A new JRC Science for Policy Brief summarises the findings of a scientific research paper on the implications of high-skilled migration for countries of origin.

It highlights that international migration is skill-selective, which means that the propensity to emigrate is much larger for the high-skilled than for the low-skilled. Over the past 30 years, the average global emigration rate of college graduates amounted to approximately five per cent, while about 1.5 per cent of the less-educated were emigrants.

The emigration of the high-skilled can lead to a so-called ‘brain drain’, resulting in a substantial loss of vital human capital for countries of origin. However, the prospect of migrating may encourage people to increase their efforts to acquire education.

If this incentive effect is strong enough, it can provide a substantial stimulus for additional skill formation and compensate for the potentially higher number of high-skilled emigrants, a so-called ‘brain gain’.

The study shows that the ‘brain gain’ effect dominates in about 90% of countries worldwide, indicating that most countries of origin benefit from skill-selective international migration.

In addition, the emigration of talent triggers several positive feedback mechanisms that can foster economic and human development in countries of origin and reduce global inequality. These beneficial feedback mechanisms include financial and knowledge transfers between countries of destination and origin.

While financial transfers account on average for only 3% of gross domestic product in less developed countries, the results suggest that many countries benefit significantly from receiving monetary transfers from abroad.

Migration policy frameworks, such as the United Nations Global Compact for Migration, the European Union’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum and the free movement within the European Union, should therefore focus on the multiple channels of development to ensure that migration provides mutual benefits for countries of origin and destination.