Human capital flight, more commonly referred to as "brain drain", is the large-scale emigration of a large group of individuals with technical skills or knowledge. The reasons usually include two aspects which respectively come from countries and individuals. In terms of countries, the reasons may be social environment (in source countries: lack of opportunities, political instability, economic depression, health risks, etc.; in host countries: rich opportunities, political stability and freedom, developed economy, better living conditions, etc.). In terms of individual reasons, there are family influence (overseas relatives), and personal preference: preference for exploring, ambition for an improved career, etc. Although the term originally referred to technology workers leaving a nation, the meaning has broadened into: "the departure of educated or professional people from one country, economic sector, or field for another, usually for better pay or living conditions".^[1] 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 or other organizations. It is a parallel of capital flight, which refers to the same movement of financial capital. Brain drain is often associated with de-skilling of emigrants in their country of destination, while their country of emigration experiences the draining of skilled individuals.

The term brain drain was coined by the Royal Society to describe the emigration of "scientists and technologists" to North America from post-war Europe.^[2] Another source indicates that this term was first used in the United Kingdom to describe the influx of Indian scientist and engineers.^[3] The converse phenomenon is "brain gain", which occurs when there is a large-scale immigration of technically qualified persons. There are also relevant phrases called "brain circulation" and "brain waste".

Brain drain is common amongst developing nations, such as the former colonies of Africa,^[4] the island nations of the Caribbean,^[5] and particularly in centralized economies such as former East Germany and the Soviet Union, where marketable skills were not financially rewarded.

Historical examples[link]

Neoplatonic academy philosophers moves[link]

After Justinian closed Academy in AD 529, according to the historian Agathias, its remaining members looked for protection under the rule of Sassanid king Khosrau I, carrying with them precious scrolls of literature and philosophy, and to a lesser degree of science. After a peace treaty between the Persian and the Byzantine empire in 532 guaranteed their personal security, some members of it found sanctuary in the pagan stronghold of Harran, near Edessa. One of the last leading figures of this group was Simplicius, a pupil of Damascius, the last head of the Athenian school. From there, the students of an Academy-in-exile could have survived into the 9th century, long enough to facilitate the Arabic revival of the Neoplatonist commentary tradition in Baghdad.^[6]

Spanish expulsion of Jews and Moors[link]

After the end of the Catholic reconquest of Spain, the Catholic Monarchs pursued a religiously uniform kingdom. Jews were expelled from the country in 1492. As they dominated financial services in the country, their expulsion was instrumental in causing future economic problems, such as the need of foreign bankers such as the Fugger family and from Genoa. On 7 January 1492 the King ordered the expulsion of all the Jews from Spain-from the kingdoms of Castile, Catalonia, Aragon, Galicia, Majorca, Minorca, the Basque provinces, the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, and the kingdom of Valencia. Before that the Queen had expelled them from the kingdom of Andalusia^[7] More information is available in Jewish History Sourcebook.

The war against Turks and North African Moors affected internal policy in the uprising of the Alpujarras (1568–1571) and motivated the Expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609. Despite being demographically a minority they were a key part of the farming sector and trained artisans. Their departure contributed to economic decline in some regions of Spain. This way, the conservative aristocracy increased its power over economically developed provinces.

Huguenot exodus from France (17th century)[link]

In 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and declared Protestantism to be illegal in the Edict of Fontainebleau. After this, Huguenots (with estimates ranging from 200,000 to 1,000,000^[8]) fled to surrounding Protestant countries: England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark and Prussia — whose Calvinist Great Elector Frederick William welcomed them to help rebuild his war-ravaged and underpopulated country. Many went to the Dutch colony at the Cape (South Africa) where they were instrumental in establishing a wine industry.^[9] At least 10,000 went to Ireland where they assimilated into the Protestant minority during the plantations.

Many Huguenots and their decedents prospered. Henri Basnage de Beauval fled France and settled in the Netherlands, where he became an influential writer and historian. Abel Boyer, another noted writer, settled in London and became a tutor to the British Royal Family. Henry Fourdrinier, the descendant of Huguenot settlers in England, founded the modern paper industry. Augustin Courtauld fled to England settling in Essex and established a dynasty that founded the British silk industry. Notes Swiss mathematician Gabriel Cramer was born in Geneva to Huguenot refugees. Sir John Houblon, the first Governor of the Bank of England, was born into a Huguenot family in London. Isaac Barré, the son of Huguenots settlers in Ireland, became an influential British soldier and politician. Future British Field Marshal John Ligonier, born Jean Louis Ligonier, was a child when his family fled France for England. Gustav and Peter Carl Fabergé, the descendants of Huguenot refugees, founded the world famous Fabergé company in Russia.

Other settlers went to the newly established British colonies in North America. They established communities in places such as New Rochelle and New Paltz in New York. The Huguenot Church in Charleston, South Carolina was originally founded in 1687 by a group of refugees from France. The Huguenots and their descendants were instrumental in the growth of the United States. Revolutionary leaders John Sevier, Francis Marion and Paul Revere were descendants of Huguenot refugees. Seven other US presidents have documented Huguenot ancestors: George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford and Lyndon Johnson.^[10]

The exodus of Huguenots from France created a brain drain as Huguenots accounted for a disproportionate number of entrepreneurial, artisan, and technical occupations in the country. The loss of this technical expertise was a blow from which the kingdom did not fully recover for many years.^{[citation needed]}

Anti-Semitism in pre-WWII Europe (1933–1943)[link]

Antisemitic feelings and laws in Europe through the 1930s and 1940s, culminating in the Holocaust, caused the emigration of many scientists to the United States. Notable examples are:

• Albert Einstein (emigrated permanently to the United States in 1933)
• Enrico Fermi (1938; though not Jewish himself, his wife Laura was)
• Niels Bohr (1943; his mother was Jewish)
• Theodore von Karman
• John von Neumann

and many others.

In addition to the anti-Semitic conditions, Nazi political persecution against liberals and socialists in Germany contributed to another kind of emigration. The Bauhaus, perhaps the most important arts and design school of the 20th century, was forced to close down during the Nazi regime because of their liberal and socialist leanings, which the Nazis considered degenerate.^{[citation needed]} The school had already been shut down in Weimar because of its political stance but moved to Dessau prior to the closing. Following this abandonment, two of the three pioneers of Modern architecture, Mies Van Der Rohe and Walter Gropius, left Germany for America (while Le Corbusier stayed in France). Along with them, they brought the European modern movement to the American public and fostered the international style in architecture and design.^{[citation needed]} They helped to transform design education at American universities and thus influenced a generation of up and coming architects.^{[citation needed]}

Eastern Bloc brain drain crisis (1922-1961)[link]

Berlin Wall 1975

By 1922, the Soviet Union had issued restrictions making emigration of its citizens to other countries almost impossible.^[11] Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev later stated "We were scared, really scared. We were afraid the thaw might unleash a flood, which we wouldn't be able to control and which could drown us. How could it drown us? It could have overflowed the banks of the Soviet riverbed and formed a tidal wave which would have washed away all the barriers and retaining walls of our society."^[12] After Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, the majority of those living in the newly acquired areas of the Eastern Bloc aspired to independence and wanted the Soviets to leave.^[13] By the early 1950s, the approach of the Soviet Union to restricting emigration was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc, including East Germany.^[14]

Even with the closing of the Inner German border officially in 1952,^[15] the border between the sectors of East Berlin and West Berlin remained considerably more accessible than the rest of the border because it was administered by all four occupying powers.^[16] The Berlin sector border was essentially a "loophole" through which East Bloc citizens could still emigrate.^[15] The 3.5 million East Germans, called Republikflüchtlinge, that had left by 1961 totaled approximately 20% of the entire East German population.^[17] The emigrants tended to be young and well educated, leading to the brain drain feared by officials in East Germany.^[13] Yuri Andropov, then the CPSU Director on Relations with Communist and Workers Parties of Socialist Countries, to write an urgent letter to the Central Committee on 28 August 1958 about the significant 50% increase in the number of East German intelligentsia among the refugees.^[18] Andropov reported that, while the East German leadership stated that they were leaving for economic reasons, testimony from refugees indicated that the reasons were more political than material.^[18] He stated "the flight of the intelligentsia has reached a particularly critical phase."^[18] The direct cost of labour force losses has been estimated at $7 billion to $9 billion, with East German party leader Walter Ulbricht later claiming that West Germany owed him $17 billion in compensation, including reparations as well as labour force losses.^[17] In addition, the drain of East Germany's young population potentially cost it over 22.5 billion marks in lost educational investment.^[19] In August 1961, East Germany erected a barbed-wire barrier that would eventually be expanded by construction into the Berlin Wall, effectively closing the loophole.^[20]

By region[link]

Europe[link]

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.^[21] The second is a migration of skilled workers from 'Central' and 'Southeastern Europe' into 'Western Europe', within the EU,^[22] although there is evidence that the trend is slowing.^[23][24] The European Union has noted a net loss of highly skilled workers and introduced a "blue card" policy – much like the American green card – which "seeks to draw an additional 20 million workers from Asia, Africa and Latin America in the next two decades".^[25]

Although the EU recognizes a need for extensive immigration in order to mitigate the effects of an aging population,^[26] nationalist political parties have gained support in many European countries by calling for stronger laws restricting immigration.^[27] Immigrants are perceived as a burden on the state and cause of social problems like increased crime rates, and major culture differences.^[28]

Western Europe[link]

In 2006, over 250,000 Europeans emigrated to the United States (164,285),^[29] Australia (40,455),^[30] Canada (37,946)^[31] and New Zealand (30,262).^[32] Germany alone saw 155,290 people leave the country (though mostly to destinations within Europe). This is the highest rate of worker emigration since reunification, which itself was equal to the rate in the aftermath of World War II.^[33] Portugal is suffering the largest drain in Western Europe. The country has lost 19.5% of its qualified population and is struggling to absorb sufficient skilled immigrants to cater for losses to Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Austria.^[34]

Central and Eastern Europe[link]

More than 500,000 Russian scientists and computer programmers have left the country since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.^[35] Central and Eastern European countries have expressed concerns about extensive migration of skilled labourers to Ireland and the United Kingdom. Lithuania, for example, has lost about 100,000 citizens since 2003, many of them young and well-educated, to emigration to Ireland in particular.^{[citation needed]} (Ireland itself used to suffer serious brain drain to America, Britain and Canada before the Celtic Tiger economic programmes.) A similar phenomenon occurred in Poland after its entry into the European Union. In the first year of its EU membership, 100,000 Poles registered to work in England, joining an estimated 750,000 residents of Polish descent.^[36] Research conducted by PKO Bank Polski, Poland's largest retail bank, shows that 63% of Polish immigrants to the UK are aged between 24 and 35 with 40% possessing a university degree.^[37] However, with the rapid growth of salaries in Poland, booming economy, strong value of the złoty, and decreasing unemployment (which fell from 14.2% in May 2006 to 8% in March 2008^[38]), the flight of Polish workers is slowing.^[39] In 2008 and early 2009 people who came back outnumbered those leaving the country. The exodus is likely to continue.^[40]

Albania is also one of the countries that has experienced brain drain from the fall of communist regime. Since 1991, people started emigrating in the closest countries, Italy and Greece and with the passing of years going further to the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. In the last 10 years, educated people and professionals have been leaving the country and going in other countries where they feel they can have better possibilities, better and secure lives. This is a concern for Albania as it is losing its skilled-workers and professionals.

Southeastern Europe[link]

The rapid and small-scale departure of highly skilled workers from Southeastern Europe has caused concern about those nations developing towards inclusion in the European Union.^[41] This has sparked programmes to curb the outflow by encouraging skilled technicians and scientists to remain in the region to work on international projects.^[42]

Portugal, Ireland,Italy, Greece and Spain[link]

Citizens of countries mostly stricken by the crisis in Europe head towards Australia, Brasil, Angola and Argentina^[43][44]

The UK[link]

There are a considerable number of people leaving the UK for Australia^[45].

Africa[link]

Conservatively speaking, "Brain drain has cost the African continent over $4 billion in the employment of 150,000 expatriate professionals annually."^[46] According to UNDP, "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.^[47] 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."

Africarecruit is a joint initiative by NEPAD and the Commonwealth Business Council to recruit professional expatriate Africans to take employment back in Africa after working overseas.^[48]

In response to growing debate over brain drain of health care professionals, especially from lower income countries to some higher income countries, in 2010 the World Health Organization adopted the Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, a policy framework for all countries for the ethical international recruitment of doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

Ghana[link]

The trend for young doctors and nurses to seek higher salaries and better working conditions, mainly in higher income countries of the West, is having serious impacts on the health care sector in Ghana. Ghana currently has about 3600 doctors—one for every 6700 inhabitants. This compares with one doctor per 430 people in the United States.^[49] Many of the country's trained doctors and nurses leave to work in countries such as Britain, the United States, Jamaica and Canada, in what many refer to as the brain drain. It is estimated that up to 68% of the country's trained medical staff left between 1993 and 2000 and according to Ghana's official statistics institute, in the period 1999 to 2004, 448 doctors, or 54% of those trained in the period, left to work abroad.^[50]

South Africa[link]

Along with many African nations, South Africa has been experiencing a "brain drain" in the past 20 years. This is believed to be potentially damaging for the regional economy,^[51] and is almost certainly detrimental for the wellbeing of regional poor majority desperately reliant on the health care infrastructure given the HIV/AIDS epidemic.^[52] The skills drain in South Africa tends to demonstrate racial contours (naturally given the skills distribution legacy of South Africa) exacerbated by Black Economic Empowerment policies, and has thus resulted in large White South African communities abroad.^[53] The problem is further highlighted by South Africa's request in 2001 of Canada to stop recruiting its doctors and other highly skilled medical personnel.^[54]

For the medical sector, the loss of returns from investment for all doctors emigrating is $1.41bn for South Africa. The benefit to destination countries is huge: $2.7bn for the United Kingdom only, without compensation.^[55]

Western Asia[link]

Iraq[link]

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.^[56] The exodus is fuelled by invasion of Iraq by U.S.A and subsequent violence, which, as of 2006, has seen 89 university professors and senior lecturers killed.^[57]

Iran[link]

In 2006, the International Monetary Fund ranked Iran highest in brain drain among 90 measured countries.^[58] The estimated exodus of 180,000 people per year is thought to be due to a poor job market, and tense domestic social conditions.^[59][60]

Asia Pacific[link]

Malaysia[link]

There has been a serious brain drain from Malaysia. Major pull factors have included better career opportunities abroad, compensation while major push factors included corruption, social inequality, lack of religious freedom and educational opportunities, and the government's Bumiputera affirmative action policies. As of 2011, Bernama has reported that there are a million talented Malaysians working overseas.^[61] Recently the brain drain has increased in pace: 305,000 Malaysians migrated overseas between March 2008 and August 2009 compared to 140,000 in 2007.^[62] Non-Bumiputeras particularly Malaysian Chinese were over-represented in these statistics. Popular destinations included Singapore, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.^[63] This has caused Malaysia's economic growth rate to fall to an average of 4.6% per annum in 2000s compared to 7.2% in the 1990s.^[64]

Philippines[link]

Philippine professionals commonly seek better income opportunities in other more developed countries, even if employment is available in their home country.^{[65][citation needed]}

South Asia[link]

India[link]

The UNDP estimates that India loses $2 billion a year because of the emigration of computer experts to the U.S.^[66] Indian students going abroad for their higher studies costs India a foreign exchange outflow of $10 billion annually.^[67]

Nepal[link]

Every year 250,000 youth are reported to leave Nepal for various reasons. They seek opportunities in its various manifestation — higher living standards, employment, better income, education, a luring western lifestyle, stability and security. The list entails everything Nepal is incapable of providing to the youth for the obvious reasons.^[68]

Pakistan[link]

The ever-increasing Pakistani diaspora through the migration of skilled labour from Pakistan to industrialised nations in Europe, North America and oil-rich Middle East has contributed to a professional brain drain in the country.^{[citation needed]} In recent years, the uncertain political situation and better job opportunities abroad has allowed many Pakistanis to seek prospective interests outside the country.

While Pakistan is a semi-industrialised country that has not overtly been affected by a brain drain, a continuous emigration of professionals is thought to be an impediment in its long-term economic growth.^[69] Each year, thousands of highly qualified doctors, engineers and scientists are said to move abroad, the most visible effect being an overall loss of skilled human resources.^[70]

Sri Lanka[link]

Sri Lanka is losing a significant proportion of its intellectuals (almost all are educated by government money through the free education system of Sri Lanka.) Majority migrated to USA, UK or Australia.

Eastern Asia[link]

China[link]

China is now a rising star in the world stage. With the rapid growth of GDP and the higher degree of openness towards the rest of the world, however, the brain drain is increasingly serious. A popular Internet writer recently caused a stir when he asserted that “all Chinese who earn more than 120,000 yuan ($17,650) a year want to immigrate.” While this view is exaggerated, there is no denying the upsurge in Chinese emigration to Western countries—particularly the United States, Canada and Australia—since the mid-first decade of the 21st century.^[71] China became the biggest worldwide contributor of emigrants in 2007. According to the official Chinese media, 65,000 Chinese last year secured immigration or permanent resident status in the United States, 25,000 in Canada and 15,000 in Australia.^[71] The largest group of emigrants consists of professionals and experts with a middle-class background,^[71] who are the backbone for the development of China. As the biggest contributor of emigrants, China also suffers the worst brain drain in the world, according to a new study that found seven out of every 10 students who enroll in an overseas university never return to live in their homeland.^[72]

The brain drain usually happens in two ways, including that the skilled intellectuals migrate to other countries, and students study overseas and then stay abroad. In China, both ways exist, but the second one is more popular and common.

Since the beginning of last century, international students were sent to different countries to learn advanced skills and knowledge, and they were expected to return to save the nation from invasion and poverty. While most of these students came back to make a living, there were still those who chose to stay abroad. From 1950s to 1970s, China was in a period of widespread upheaval due to political instability. As a result, many Chinese felt upset and disappointed about the situation. The situation did not improve after the gradual liberalization of China during the 80s; just as many people chose to go abroad since there were more opportunities overseas. More social upheavals happened with the Tiananmen Square Massacre - the result of which was an increasing Chinese diaspora. As steady economic growth boost GDP per capita, more families in China are able to support their children to go abroad for studying or living. All of these factors contribute to the current brain drain in China. In this day and age, most students do not go back to China if they are able to find a good job abroad. Wealthy Chinese people tend to settle down abroad to enjoy high quality of life.

Statistics of Brain Drain in China

Chart 1: the return rate of Chinese international students

The statistics from this chart shows an increasing trend of Chinese international students from 1978 to 2006, while the number of people returned to China also increased. However, the return rate fluctuated in those years.

Chart 2: Chinese students and scholars in US

Statistics sources^[73]

Australasia[link]

Pacific Islands[link]

The post-WWII migration trends in the Pacific Islands has essentially followed these trends

• Most Pacific island nations that were formerly under UK mandate have had migration outflows to Australia and New Zealand since the de-colonialization of the region from the 1960s to the 1990s. There has only been a limited outflow from these islands to Canada and the UK since de-colonialization.
• Most Pacific islands administered by France (like Tahiti) have had an outflow into France.
• Most Pacific islands under some kind of US administration have had inflows into the US, and to a lesser extent Canada.

New Zealand[link]

During the 1990s, 30,000 New Zealanders were emigrating each year. An OECD report released in 2005 revealed that 24.2% of New Zealanders with a tertiary education were living outside of New Zealand, predominantly in Australia.^[74] In 2007, around 24,000 New Zealanders settled in Australia.^[75]

It has been noted that New Zealand also enjoys immigration of qualified foreigners, potentially leaving a net gain of skills.^[76]

North America[link]

Canada[link]

Colonial administrators in Canada observed the trend of human capital flight to the United States as early as the 1860s, when it was already clear that a majority of immigrants arriving at Quebec City were en route to destinations in the United States. Alexander C. Buchanan, government agent at Quebec, argued that prospective emigrants should be offered free land to remain in Canada. The problem of attracting and keeping the right immigrants has been a constant in Canadian immigration history.^[77]

In the 1920s, over 20% of university graduating classes in engineering and science were emigrating to the United States. When governments displayed no interest, concerned industrials formed the Technical Service Council in 1927 to combat the brain drain. As a practical means of doing so, the Council operated a placement service that was free to graduates.

By 1976, the Council had placed over 16,000 men and women. Between 1960 and 1979 over 17,000 engineers and scientists emigrated to the United States. But the exodus of technically trained Canadians leaving dropped from 27% of the graduating classes in 1927 to under 10% in 1951 and 5% in 1967.

In Canada today, the idea of a brain drain to the United States is occasionally a domestic political issue. At times, 'brain drain' is used as a justification for income tax cuts. During the 1990s, some alleged a brain drain from Canada to the United States, especially in the software, aerospace, health care and entertainment industries, due to the perception of higher wages and lower income taxes in the US.^[78] Some also suggest that engineers and scientists were also attracted by the greater diversity of jobs and a perceived lack of research funding in Canada.

The evidence suggests that, in the 1990s, Canada did indeed lose some of its homegrown talent to the US.^[79] Nonetheless, Canada hedged against these losses by attracting more highly skilled workers from abroad. This allowed the country to realize a net brain gain as more professionals entered Canada than left (even today, Canada still enjoys a net brain gain).^[79] Sometimes, the qualifications of these migrants are given no standing in Canada (see credentialism), resulting in some - though not all - highly skilled professionals being forced into lower paying service sector jobs.

Brain drain is still a significant issue in Atlantic provinces such as New Brunswick, where a relative lack of jobs results in many of the fully educated to move to other provinces such as Nova Scotia, Alberta, or British Columbia. Brain gain also occurs here, however, through immigration. This often causes controversy among the working class as to whether or not enough jobs are available for born Canadians.

More recently however, Canada's resilient economy, strong domestic market, enviable standard of living, and considerable wage growth across a number of sectors, have effectively ended the brain drain debate in Canada.^[80][81] Canada's economic success has also prompted some top US talent to migrate to Canada.^{[80][81][82][83][84]} In the first decade of the 21st century, Canadian productivity grew while US productivity evened out.^[80] Anecdotal evidence also suggests that stringent US security measures put in place after September 11th, 2001 have helped to end the brain drain debate in Canada.^[85]

United States[link]

The 2000 United States Census Bureau published a special report on domestic worker migration, with a focus on the movement of young, single, college-educated migrants.^[86] The data shows a trend of such people moving away from the Rust Belt and northern Great Plains region towards the West Coast and Southeast. The area with the largest net influx of young, single, college-educated persons was the San Francisco Bay Area.

The US (like other countries) has been experiencing widespread rural depopulation in the past few decades, which have seen many young rural graduates moving to urban/suburban areas. This has negatively impacted rural communities in the US^{[citation needed]}

Latin America[link]

There is a surge of intellectuals leaving Latin America who are usually doctors, architects, and engineers. They often choose the US as their destination. However, after migrating, most of them work in jobs that have nothing to do with their original majors. Therefore, it is not only brain drain for their own countries, but also brain waste for the whole world.^[87]

In some Latin American nations, where enrollment at local medical schools is very high, there is a chronic shortage of doctors.

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:

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:

Cuba[link]

In 2007, Cuban officials claimed that 31,000 Cuban doctors were deployed in 61 countries.^[90] A large number practice in South America. 20,000 are employed in Venezuela in exchange for nearly 100,000 barrels (16,000 m³) of oil per day.^[91] However, state employees serving at assigned foreign posts that earn money or resources for their government do not exactly fall under the definition of brain drain. From Venezuela and Bolivia, where another 1,700 doctors work, it is thought that as many as 500 doctors may have fled the missions into countries nearby; these would constitute brain drain.^[90] Figures are dubious, since the defections are rarely made public.

Caribbean[link]

Most of the Caribbean Islands endure a substantial emigration of qualified workers. Approximately 30% of the labour forces of many islands have left, and more than 80% of college graduates from Suriname, Haiti, Grenada and Guyana have emigrated, mostly to the United States.^[92] Over 80% of Jamaicans with higher education live abroad.^[93] However, it is noted that these nationals pay valuable remittances. In Jamaica, the money sent back amounts to 18% of GNP.^[94] This calls into question whether this trend can be described as a true brain drain.

Preventative measures[link]

Talents play important roles in helping a country develop. The economy of a country that has a large number of world-class scientists and technicians can be more innovative than the others that don't.^[95] Different areas and nations have distinct policies to retain skilled workers due to the different national or regional situation. For instance, in African countries, the health systems have been severely affected by brain drain, so various measures have been suggested and tried to limit the migration of health workers to rich countries.^[96] In Kuwait, people have argued the country should cultivate a sense of security and hope among the elite to curb brain drain because people are not so confident of their countries' future.^[97] China tries to create a normal and free atmosphere and mechanism that would help talents flourish.^[95] And in India, although suffering severe brain drain every year, the Indian government has not to adopted strict policies because they believe that the overseas talent will eventually contribute to the nation in the future.^[98] Germany established a government funded initiative called GAIN to assist Germans working abroad to return to their home country. Other countries (Switzerland, Austria, France) have similar initiatives.

Related phenomena[link]

Brain gain[link]

An opposite situation, in which many trained and talented individuals seek entrance into a country, is called a brain gain; this may create a brain drain in the nations that the individuals are leaving. A Canadian symposium in the late 1990s gave circulation to the new term, in response to Canada luring more skilled professionals to the country than it lost.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000, the US Congress announced that 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 rough 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.^[99] In the same year the government of the United Kingdom, 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.^{[citation needed]}

Brain circulation[link]

In general most developing countries suffer brain drain because emigrant intellectuals refuse to return. Some migrants do return to their home countries or become transnational with homes in different countries.^[100]

Brain waste[link]

This section requires expansion.

Sometimes migrants to other countries or urban areas are not able to obtain employment commensurate with their educational qualifications. This is called brain waste.^[100] An example would be a Nigerian doctor who immigrates to Europe but works in the service industry.

See also[link]

• Human capital
• Immigration
• Instructional capital
• Edict of Fontainebleau
• Free rider problem
• Canadians of convenience
• American exceptionalism
• Forty-Eighters
• Great Migration (African American)
• Reverse brain drain
• Emigration from Colombia

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Lincoln C. Chen, M.D., and Jo Ivey Boufford, M.D. "Fatal Flows Doctors on the Move" New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 353:1850–1852 October 27, 2005, Number 17 online version, editorial
• Cheng, L., & Yang, P. Q. "Global interaction, global inequality, and migration of the highly trained to the United States. International Migration Review, (1998). 32, 626–94.
• Jeff Colgan, The Promise and Peril of International Trade, (2005) ch 9.
• David Heenan.Flight Capital: The Alarming Exodus of America's Best and Brightest (2005), brain drain in reverse as immigrants return home
• Kapur, Devesh; McHale, John (2005). "Give Us Your Best and Brightest: The Global Hunt for Talent and Its Impact on the Developing World: Center for Global Development: Publications". Cgdev.org. http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/4415/. 
• Dowty, Alan (1989). Closed Borders: The Contemporary Assault on Freedom of Movement. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-04498-4. 
• Harrison, Hope Millard (2003). Driving the Soviets Up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953–1961. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09678-3. 
• Kemp, Paul. Goodbye Canada? (2003), from Canada to U.S.
• Khadria, Binod. The Migration of Knowledge Workers: Second-Generation Effects of India's Brain Drain, (2000)
• Kuznetsov, Yevgeny. Diaspora Networks and the International Migration of Skills: How Countries Can Draw on Their Talent Abroad (2006)
• D. W. Livingstone; The Education-Jobs Gap: Underemployment or Economic Democracy (1998), focus on Canada online edition
• Douglas S. Massey and J. Edward Taylor; International Migration: Prospects and Policies in a Global Market, (2003) online edition
• Mullan, Fitzhugh. "The Metrics of the Physician Brain Drain." New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 353:1810–1818 October 27, 2005, Number 17 online version
• Caglar Ozden and Maurice Schiff. International Migration, Remittances, and Brain Drain. (2005)
• Ransford W. Palmer; In Search of a Better Life: Perspectives on Migration from the Caribbean Praeger Publishers, 1990 online edition
• Pearson, Raymond (1998). The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire. Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-17407-1. 
• Ronald Skeldon and Wang Gungwu; Reluctant Exiles? Migration from Hong Kong and the New Overseas Chinese 1994 online edition
• Michael Peter Smith and Adrian Favell. The Human Face of Global Mobility: International Highly Skilled Migration in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific, (2006)
• Thackeray, Frank W. (2004). Events that changed Germany. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-32814-5. 
• David Zweig, Chen Changgui, and Stanley Rosen; China's Brain Drain to the United States: Views of Overseas Chinese Students and Scholars in the 1990s Institute of East Asian Studies, 1995 online edition
• Sami Mahroum. Highly skilled globetrotters: mapping the international migration of human capital. S Mahroum - R&D Management, 2000.

Online references[link]

• Moving Here, Staying Here: The Canadian Immigrant Experience - "Immigration," Annual Report of the Minister of the Province of Canada for the Year 1865 at Library and Archives Canada
• Mark Regets, Research Issues in the International Migration of Highly Skilled Workers - National Science Foundation, SRS 07-203, June 2007

External links[link]

• Mario Cervantes and Dominique Guellec, "The brain drain: Old myths, new realities"
• "Brain Drain: Brain Gain"
• How Extensive Is the Brain Drain? An article on the extent of brain drain today
• Sami Mahroum, "Europe and the Challenge of the Brain Drain"
• US Census Bureau report on migration of the young and educatedPDF (210 KB)
• SciDev.net - Brain Drain
• How To Plug Europe's Brain Drain. Time Europe, accessed October 9, 2006

Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull in concert in Istanbul, March 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Marian Evelyn Faithfull[1]
Born	(1946-12-29) 29 December 1946 (age 65) Hampstead, London, England
Genres	Rock pop folk jazz blues
Occupations	Singer songwriter actress
Instruments	Vocals keyboards
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Decca Deram London NEMS Columbia Island RCA Instinct Sanctuary Anti Naïve
Associated acts	Andrew Loog Oldham The Rolling Stones Metallica
Website	mariannefaithfull.org.uk

Marianne Evelyn Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades.

Her early work in pop and rock music in the 1960s was overshadowed by her struggle with drug abuse in the 1970s. During the first two-thirds of that decade, she produced only two little-noticed studio albums. After a long commercial absence, she returned late in 1979 with the highly acclaimed album, Broken English. Faithfull's subsequent solo work, often critically acclaimed, has at times been overshadowed by her personal history.

From 1966 to 1970, she had a highly publicised romantic relationship with Rolling Stones' lead singer, Mick Jagger. She co-wrote "Sister Morphine", which is featured on the Stones' Sticky Fingers album.

Early life[link]

Faithfull was born in Hampstead, London. Her father, Major Robert Glynn Faithfull, was a British military officer and professor of psychology.^[2] Her mother, Eva von Sacher-Masoch, Baroness Erisso, was originally from Vienna, with aristocratic roots in the Habsburg Dynasty and Jewish ancestry on her maternal side.^[3] Erisso was a ballerina for the Max Reinhardt Company during her early years, and danced in productions of works by the German theatrical duo Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.^[4] Faithfull's maternal great great uncle was Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the nineteenth-century Austrian nobleman whose erotic novel, Venus in Furs, spawned the word "masochism".^[5] In regard to her roots in nobility, Faithfull commented in March 2007 prior to beginning the European leg of her tour, "I'm even going to Budapest, which is nice because I'm half English and half Austro Hungarian. I've inherited the title Baroness Sacher-Masoch—it comes from one of my great uncles who gave his name to masochism."^[6]

The family originally lived in Ormskirk, a market town in West Lancashire, while her father completed a doctorate at Liverpool University.^[2] She spent some of her early life at the commune formed by her father at Braziers Park, Oxfordshire. After her parents divorced when she was six years old,^[2] she moved with her mother to Milman Road in Reading, Berkshire. Her elementary school was in Brixton. Living in rather reduced circumstances, Faithfull's girlhood was marred by bouts with tuberculosis and her charity boarder status at St Joseph's Convent School. While at St. Joseph's, she was also a member of the Progress Theatre's student group.

Music career and personal life[link]

1960s[link]

Faithfull began her singing career in 1964, landing her first gigs as a folk music performer in coffeehouses.^[7] She soon began taking part in London's exploding social scene. In early 1964 she attended a Rolling Stones launch party with John Dunbar and met Andrew Loog Oldham, who discovered her. Her first major release, "As Tears Go By", was written by Jagger/Richards and Oldham, and became a chart success. She then released a series of successful singles, including "This Little Bird", "Summer Nights" and "Come and Stay With Me".^[7] Faithfull married artist John Dunbar on 6 May 1965 in Cambridge with Peter Asher as the best man.^[2] The couple lived in a flat at 29 Lennox Gardens in Belgravia just off Knightsbridge, London SW1.^[2] On 10 November 1965 she gave birth to their son, Nicholas.^[2] She then "left her husband to live with Mick Jagger" and told the "New Musical Express": "My first move was to get a Rolling Stone as a boyfriend. I slept with three and decided the lead singer was the best bet."^[2]

In 1966 she took their son to stay with Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg in London. During that time period, Faithfull started smoking marijuana and became best friends with Pallenberg. She also began a much publicised relationship with Mick Jagger that same year. The couple became notorious and largely part of the hip Swinging London scene. She was found wearing only a fur rug by British police executing a drug search at Richards' house in West Wittering, Sussex. In an interview 27 years later with A.M. Homes for Details, Faithfull discussed her wilder days and admitted that the drug bust fur rug incident had ravaged her personal life: "It destroyed me. To be a male drug addict and to act like that is always enhancing and glamorising. A woman in that situation becomes a slut and a bad mother". In 1968 Faithfull, by now addicted to cocaine, miscarried a daughter (whom she had named Corrina) while retreating to Jagger's country house in Ireland.^[7][8]

Faithfull's involvement in Jagger's life would be reflected in some of the Rolling Stones' best known songs. "Sympathy for the Devil", featured on the album Beggars Banquet (1968), was in part inspired by The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, a book which Faithfull introduced him to. The song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" on the Let It Bleed album (1969) was supposedly written about Faithfull; the songs "Wild Horses" and "I Got the Blues" on the 1971 album Sticky Fingers were also allegedly influenced by Faithfull, and she co-wrote "Sister Morphine". (The writing credit for the song was the subject of a protracted legal battle; the resolution of the case has Faithfull listed as co-author of the song.) In her autobiography, Faithfull said Jagger and Richards released it in their own names so that her agent did not collect all the royalties and proceeds from the song, especially as she was homeless and battling with heroin addiction at the time. Faithfull appeared in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus concert, giving a solo performance of "Something Better".^[7] According to Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash his song Carrie Anne by The Hollies is about that time in her life as well. The Beatles 1966 song "And Your Bird Can Sing" on the Revolver album is written about her.^[9]

1970s[link]

Faithfull ended her relationship with Jagger in May 1970, and she lost custody of her son in that same year, which led to her attempting suicide.^[7] Faithfull's personal life went into decline, and her career went into a tailspin. She only made a few appearances, including a 1973 performance at NBC with David Bowie, singing Sonny Bono's song (recorded in 1965 by Sonny & Cher) "I Got You Babe".^[7]

Faithfull lived on London's Soho streets for two years, suffering from heroin addiction and anorexia nervosa.^[10] Friends intervened and enrolled her in an NHS drug programme, from which she could get her daily fix on prescription from a chemist (pharmacist).^[11] She was one of the program's most notorious failures, neither controlling nor stabilising her addiction as the NHS intended. In 1971, producer Mike Leander found her on the streets and made an attempt to revive her career, producing part of her album Rich Kid Blues. The album would be shelved until 1985.^[7]

Severe laryngitis, coupled with persistent cocaine abuse during this period, permanently altered Faithfull's voice, leaving it cracked and lower in pitch. While the new sound was praised as "whiskey soaked" by some critics, journalist John Jones, of the London Sunday Times, wrote that she had "permanently vulgarised her voice".^[7] In 1975 she released the country-influenced record Dreamin' My Dreams, which reached No. 1 on the Irish Albums Chart.^[7] Faithfull moved into a squat without hot water or electricity in Chelsea with then-boyfriend Ben Brierly, of the punk band The Vibrators. She later shared flats in Chelsea and Regent's Park with Henrietta Moraes.

Faithfull's career returned full force in 1979 (the same year she was arrested for marijuana possession in Norway) with the album Broken English, one of her most critically hailed albums.^[7] The album was partially influenced by the punk explosion and her marriage to Brierly in the same year. In addition to the punk-pop sounds of the title track (which addressed terrorism in Europe, being dedicated to Ulrike Meinhof), the album also included "Why D'Ya Do It", a punk-reggae song with aggressive lyrics adapted from a poem by Heathcote Williams.^[12] The musical structure of this song is complex; though on the surface hard rock, it is a tango in 4/4 time, with an opening electric guitar riff by Barry Reynolds in which beats 1 and 4 of each measure are accented on the up-beat, and beat 3 is accented on the down beat. Faithfull, in her autobiography, commented that her fluid yet rhythmic reading of Williams' lyric was "an early form of rap".^[7] Broken English also revealed a dramatic change to Faithfull's singing voice. The melodic vocals on her early records were replaced with a raucous, deep voice, affected by years of smoking, drinking and drug use.^[7]

1980s[link]

Faithfull began living in New York after the release of the follow-up to Broken English, Dangerous Acquaintances, in 1981. Despite her comeback, she was still battling with addiction in the mid 1980s, at one point breaking her jaw tripping on a flight of stairs while under the influence.^[7] In another incident her heart stopped. A disastrous appearance on Saturday Night Live was blamed on too many rehearsals, but it was suspected that drugs had caused her vocal cords to seize up. Rich Kid Blues (1984) was another collection of her early work combined with new recordings, a double record showcasing both the pop and rock 'n' roll facets of her output to date. In 1985, Faithfull performed "Ballad of the Soldier's Wife" on Hal Willner's tribute album Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill. Faithfull's restrained readings lent themselves to the material, and this collaboration informed several subsequent works.

In 1985, she was at the Hazelden Foundation Clinic in Minnesota for rehabilitation. She then received treatment at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. While living at a hotel in nearby Cambridge, Faithfull started an affair (while still married to Brierly) with a dual diagnosis (mentally ill and drug dependent) man, Howard Tose, who later committed suicide by jumping from a 14th floor window of the apartment they shared.^[7] In 1987, Faithfull dedicated a thank-you to Tose within the album package of Strange Weather, on the back sleeve: "To Howard Tose with love and thanks". Faithfull's divorce from Brierly was also finalised that year. In 1995, she wrote and sang about Tose's death in "Flaming September" from the album A Secret Life.^[7]

In 1987, Faithfull again reinvented herself, this time as a jazz and blues singer, on Strange Weather, also produced by Willner. The album became her most critically lauded album of the decade. Coming full circle, the renewed Faithfull cut another recording of "As Tears Go By" for Strange Weather, this time in a tighter, more gravelly voice. The singer confessed to a lingering irritation with her first hit. "I always childishly thought that was where my problems started, with that damn song," she told Jay Cocks in Time, but she came to terms with it as well as with her past. In a 1987 interview with Rory O'Connor of Vogue, Faithfull declared, "forty is the age to sing it, not seventeen.^[8] The album of covers was produced by Hal Willner after the two had spent numerous weekends listening to hundreds of songs from the annals of twentieth-century music. They chose to record such diverse tracks as Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It with Mine" and "Yesterdays", written by Broadway composers Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach. The work also includes tunes first made notable by such blues luminaries as Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith; Tom Waits wrote the title track. In 1988, Faithfull married writer and actor Giorgio Della Terza, but they divorced in 1991.^[7]

1990s[link]

When Roger Waters assembled an all-star cast of musicians to perform the rock opera The Wall live in Berlin in July 1990, Faithfull played the part of Pink's overprotective mother. Her musical career rebounded for the third time during the early 1990s with the live album Blazing Away, which featured Faithfull revisiting songs she had performed over the course of her career. Blazing Away was recorded at St. Anne's Cathedral in Brooklyn. The 13 selections include "Sister Morphine", a cover of Edith Piaf's "Les Prisons du Roy", and "Why D'Ya Do It?" from Broken English. Alanna Nash of Stereo Review commended the musicians whom Faithfull had chosen to back her—longtime guitarist Reynolds was joined by former Band member Garth Hudson and pianist Dr. John. Nash was also impressed with the album's autobiographical tone, noting "Faithfull's gritty alto is a cracked and halting rasp, the voice of a woman who's been to hell and back on the excursion fare which, of course, she has." The reviewer extolled Faithfull as "one of the most challenging and artful of women artists," and Rolling Stone writer Fred Goodman asserted: "Blazing Away is a fine retrospective – proof that we can still expect great things from this graying, jaded contessa."^[8]

A Collection of Her Best Recordings was released in 1994 by Island Records to coincide with the release of the Faithfull autobiography; the two products originally shared the same cover art. It contained Faithfull's updated version of "As Tears Go By" from Strange Weather, several cuts from Broken English and A Child's Adventure and a song written by Patti Smith scheduled for inclusion on an Irish AIDS benefit album. This track, "Ghost Dance", suggested to Faithfull by a friend who later died of AIDS, was made with a trio of old acquaintances: Stones drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ron Wood backed Faithfull's vocals on the song, while Richards coproduced it. The retrospective album also featured one live track, "Times Square", from Blazing Away as well as a new Faithfull original, "She", penned with composer and arranger Angelo Badalamenti to be released the following year on A Secret Life, with additional songs co written with Badalamenti. Faithfull sang a duet and recited text on the San Francisco band Oxbow's 1996 album Serenade in Red. Faithfull also sang background vocals on Metallica's song "The Memory Remains" from their 1997 album ReLoad and appeared in the song's music video; the track reached No. 28 in the U.S. (#3 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart) and No. 13 in the UK.

As her fascination with the music of Weimar-era Germany continued, Faithfull performed in The Threepenny Opera at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, playing Pirate Jenny. Her interpretation of the music led to a new album, Twentieth Century Blues (1996), which focused on the music of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, followed in 1998 by a recording of The Seven Deadly Sins, with the Vienna Radio Symphony, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. A hugely successful concert and cabaret tour accompanied by Paul Trueblood at the piano, culminated in the filming, at the Montreal Jazz Festival, of the DVD Marianne Faithfull Sings Kurt Weill.

In 1998 Faithfull released A Perfect Stranger: The Island Anthology, a two-disc compilation that chronicled her years with Island Records. It featured tracks from her albums Broken English, Dangerous Acquaintances, A Child's Adventure, Strange Weather, Blazing Away, and A Secret Life, as well as several B sides and unreleased tracks.

Faithfull's 1999 DVD Dreaming My Dreams contained material about her childhood and parents, with historical video footage going back to 1964 and interviews with the artist and several friends who have known her since childhood. The documentary included sections on her relationship with John Dunbar and Mick Jagger, and brief interviews with Keith Richards. It concluded with footage from a 30-minute live concert, originally broadcast on PBS for the series Sessions at West 54th. That same year, she ranked 25th in VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll.

2000s[link]

Faithfull has released several albums in the 2000s that received positive critical response, beginning with Vagabond Ways (1999), which was produced and recorded by Mark Howard. It included collaborations with Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, and writer (and friend) Frank McGuinness. Later that year she sang "Love Got Lost" on Joe Jackson's Night and Day II.

Her renaissance continued with Kissin' Time, released in 2002. The album contained songs written with Blur, Beck, Billy Corgan, Jarvis Cocker, Dave Stewart, David Courts, and the French pop singer Étienne Daho. On this record, she paid tribute to Nico (with "Song for Nico"), whose work she admired. The album also included an autobiographical song she co-wrote with Cocker, called "Sliding Through Life on Charm".

In 2005, she released Before the Poison. The album was primarily a collaboration with PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, though Damon Albarn and Jon Brion also contributed. Before the Poison received mixed reviews from both Rolling Stone and Village Voice.^[13][14] In 2005 she recorded (and co-produced) "Lola R Forever", a cover of the Serge Gainsbourg song "Lola Rastaquouere" with Sly & Robbie for the tribute album Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited. In 2007, Faithfull collaborated with the British singer/songwriter, Patrick Wolf on the duet "Magpie" from his third album The Magic Position and wrote and recorded a new song for the French film Truands called "A Lean and Hungry Look" with Ulysse.