Philippine E-Journals

Implications of the Brain Drain

Tereso S. Tullao Jr.

Discipline: Social Studies

 

Abstract:

The skimming off of the most intelligent and ambitious citizens in the less developed countries through the brain drain has gained international scrutiny in recent years. Under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCT AD) and other international fora, complaints of poor countries on the adverse effects of the brain drain have been aired. Less developed countries have charged developed countries with limiting the former's development potential by encouraging the outmigration of its scarce human talents. The United States, as a country of immigrants, has attracted a great number of these individuals. The number of professional immigrants admitted into the U.S. increased by 430,000 between 1970 and 1979. Filipino professionals alone contributed a significant portion of the annual flow to the U.S., accounting for almost 16 percent of the total professionals admitted during the period.