Although migration within the EU itself concerns only a small number of Europeans, it has led to the brain drain phenomenon in some regions, according to a report on brain drain conducted for the European Committee of the Regions (CoR).
Out of approximately 511 million European citizens, 17 million have migrated to different EU countries. Germany (33%) and the United Kingdom (20%) have drawn over half of that number. Every fourth (4.2 mln) of those migrants had completed higher education. This number had been on the rise between 2014 – 2017. The highest increase was recorded among workers from Hungary (51%), Croatia (46%) and Slovakia (41%).
The highest number of most educated workers “on the move” in 2017 came from Poland (576 300), Germany (472 000) and Romania (467 000).
Educated people chose countries in the Northern regions of the EU – Sweden, Ireland, Estonia and Denmark, as well as Great Britain. The least attractive location was Italy.
The ease of migration in some regions of the EU has led to a significant migration of higher educated people, the so-called brain drain. This is due to rising competition for talent and the limited capabilities of home countries to create attractive environments for those workers.
In the regions affected by a brain drain, the mobility of migration is increased by negative conditions on the work market – high unemployment and low salaries. Other factors include administrative barriers, recession and a bad political climate.
