The paper adduces recent existing evidence on the scope and dimensions of
“brain-drain “ from Bulgaria. The analysis started with the clarification of the concepts
and definitions of brain drain. The authors based the analysis on the common accepted
understanding of brain drain as tertiary educated highly skilled emigrants.
The data scarcity and the lack of rigorous evaluations of the impact of skilled
emigration on the labour market and economic development of the country impeded the
presentation of a deep and comprehensiveness analysis on the actual brain drain from
Bulgaria. Meanwhile, it has to be pointed that the emigration and skilled emigration, in
particular, is relatively new event for the country. Because of this most of the existing
studies in this area are concentrated mainly on the intentions for emigration. Bearing in
mind that the intentions for emigration are not the most reliable indicator because of their
subjective character and the probability for change the authors presented their evolution
as one of the available indicator for the expected dynamic of skilled emigration from the
country. Based on the actual and potential skilled emigration the analysis of this study
drawn several interesting conclusions.