A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research provides data on just which countries are gaining and which are losing talent. Data were collected from 17,182 respondents using a web-based survey of corresponding authors in 16 countries in four fields during 2011.

Switzerland has the largest percentage of immigrant scientists working in country (56.7); Canada, and Australia trail by nine or more per cent; the U.S. and Sweden by approximately eighteen per cent. India has the lowest (0.8), followed closely by Italy and Japan. The most likely reason to come to a country for postdoctoral study or work is professional.

The unique factor of the study is that -- unlike analyses prepared by individual countries, which frequently try to demonstrate that brain drain is a problem -- a consistent method was used. The study was based on an analysis of the scientists in 16 countries working on biology, chemistry, earth and environmental sciences, and materials. For researchers in each country, the study asked where they were at age 18, yielding data both on which countries rely on immigrant talent and on which countries are supplying that talent.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research