Eastern Europe and Central Asia Brain Drain – Patterns and Issues Çağlar Özden Development Economics Research Group The World Bank

The Source

Main Points There is significant migration from ECA countries to the EU and North America. People from the Balkan countries have the highest tendency to migrate to OECD, followed by Eastern Europe. With few exceptions, migrants are more educated compared to the population in their home countries. In some cases, more than 20% of the college educated have migrated. North America attracts a large portion of the highly educated migrants from the region, especially compared to Western Europe. We observe significant brain waste – large portion of the highly educated migrants do not obtain jobs commensurate with their level of education

The Numbers Note: This is logarithmic scale! Migrants in OECD Labor Markets, 2000 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 10,000,000 Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary Poland Romania Slovakia Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Macedonia Serbia and Montenegro Slovenia Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Estonia Georgia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lithuania Moldova Russia Tajikistan Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan Turkey Note: This is logarithmic scale!

Migrants by Education Level tertiary secondary 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Bulgaria Hungary Poland Romania Slovakia Albania Croatia Macedonia Slovenia Armenia Belarus Estonia Georgia Latvia Azerbaijan Lithuania Moldova Russia Tajikistan Ukraine Turkey Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Czech Republic Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbia and Montenegro

Level of Migration Share of migrants in the origin country labor force, 2000 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary Poland Romania Slovakia Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Macedonia Serbia and Montenegro Slovenia Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Estonia Georgia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lithuania Moldova Russia Tajikistan Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan Turkey all migrants (25+ years) tertiary educated

Migrants vs. Non-Migrants

Destination Migration to the US, Canada, Australia, 2000 TOTAL 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary Poland Romania Slovakia Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Macedonia Serbia and Montenegro Slovenia Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Estonia Georgia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lithuania Moldova Russia Tajikistan Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan Turkey TOTAL TERTIARY

Destination - 2 Migration to the EU, 2000 TOTAL TERTIARY 100% 90% 80% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary Poland Romania Slovakia Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Macedonia Serbia and Montenegro Slovenia Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Estonia Georgia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lithuania Moldova Russia Tajikistan Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan Turkey TOTAL TERTIARY

Brain Waste Brain Waste: Placement of Educated Migrants in the US Labor Force 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary Poland Romania Slovakia Albania Bosnia Croatia Kosovo Macedonia Serbia Yugoslavia Armenia Azerbaijan Byelorussia Georgia Latvia Lithuania Moldavia Russia Ukraine Uzbekistan Turkey high skilled medium skilled

Conclusion Migration is a complex social and economic phenomenon with different reasons and consequences Migration of the highly educated people pose a significant loss to their countries … … but there are significant personal and social gains. They obtain higher, stable incomes; they find opportunities for professional advancement and send remittances back home They are instrumental in the integration of their home countries with the global economy They play important roles in technology and capital transfers. The net result is also complex and needs careful analysis.