UNITED NATIONS: Losing many of a country's best minds

The world’s least developed countries are losing significant numbers of their few skilled professionals, according to a United Nations report. Some of the poorest nations on earth, including Haiti, Samoa, Gambia and Somalia, are among those to have lost more than half of their university educated professionals while in Bangladesh, 65% of newly graduated doctors seek jobs abroad.

GREECE: Brain drain still flows

Makki Marseilles

Since time immemorial Greece has been a net exporter of culture and talent. The country is small, the population restless. Naturally clever and inventive, when unable to realise their dreams in the restricted space of the country's boundaries they did not hesitate to seek wider horizons for their talents – not only in Europe but worldwide.

UK: Future fears over brain drain

Diane Spencer

British universities overall gain more academics and researchers than they lose to foreign institutions, says Universities UK, the body representing the majority of higher education institutions in the country. But the picture is different at the elite level.

AFRICA: Governments to tap the diaspora

Karen MacGregor

The brain drain from Africa is continuing apace, according to a new study, and 10 of the continent’s 53 countries have lost more than 40% of their tertiary educated labour force. Now African governments are getting serious about tackling the problem – and using the rich skills of the diaspora to promote African development.

NEW ZEALAND: Balancing brain drain with gain

John Gerritsen*

Isolated at the bottom of the world with a population of just 4.2 million people, New Zealand has long worried about the loss of its best and brightest to bigger countries with bigger opportunities.

CANADA: Brain drain is so 1997

Philip Fine

A Canadian brain drain seems to be a bygone issue after the government invested heavily to help staunch the flow of academics southward. Just last decade one leader declared that Canada had "become a training ground of great researchers for the US and other countries". Now the nation is repatriating lost academics and attracting new stars.

AUSTRALIA: Brain gain not drain

Geoff Maslen

Far from losing its brightest minds to better-paying places on the other side of the globe, Australia is attracting a greater number of skilled people than leave the country, especially those with PhDs.