In this paper, we provide new estimates of skilled workers’ emigration rates
for about 190 countries in 2000 and 170 countries in 1990, including both developing
and industrial countries. Using various statistical sources, we revisit
Carrington and Detragiache’s measures by incorporating information on immigrants’
educational attainment and country of origin from almost all OECD
countries. Our database covers 92.7 percent of the OECD immigration stock.
In absolute terms, we show that the largest numbers of highly educated migrants
are from Europe, Southern and Eastern Asia and, to a lesser extent,
Central America. Nevertheless, as a proportion of the potential educated labor
force, the highest brain drain rates are observed in the Caribbean, Central
America, Western and Eastern Africa. Repeating the exercise for 1990 and
2000 allows us to evaluate the changes in brain drain intensity. Western Africa,
Eastern Africa and Central America experienced a remarkable increase in the
brain drain during the past decade.