IAB Brain Drain Data

The IAB brain drain data on international migration cover information for 20 OECD destination countries by gender, country of origin and educational level for the years 1980 to 2010 (5-year intervals).

The data contain three major files:

IAB brain drain dataset:

• Contains data on the total number of foreign-born individuals aged 25 years and older living in each of the 20 considered OECD destination countries by year, gender, country of origin and educational level. Educational levels are distinguished into low, medium and high skilled.
• Migration by gender:
  Total number of foreign-born individuals (all age groups) living in each of the 20 considered OECD destination countries by gender and country of origin.
• Emigration rates:
  Proportion of migrants of the pre-migration population (defined as the sum of residents and migrants in each source country) by gender, skill level and year. Age group: 25 years and older.

General information

The IAB data collection on international migration has been carried out within the framework of the TEMPO project (TEmporary Migration, integration and the role of POlicies), a project financed by NORFACE (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe), a partnership of 15 European research councils established to increase cooperation in research and research policy. The project has the goal of extending the knowledge of the causes and consequences of international migration with a particular focus on themes like temporary migration, migrants’ integration, and migration policies.

The IAB has been in charge of building a macro dataset on international migration to 20 OECD destination countries by gender, country of origin and educational level for the years 1980-2010 (5-year intervals). The above data collection has been carried out in cooperation with Abdeslam Marfouk (ULB, Brussels).

Sources

The figures provided in the dataset are aggregates computed from Census data of 20 OECD destination countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Methodology

The methodology used to collect and harmonize the data as well as to compute the emigration rates is summarized in the report on methodological notes.

Data

Brain drain data

Contains data on the total number of foreign-born individuals aged 25 years and older living in each of the 20 considered OECD destination countries by year, gender, country of origin and educational level. Educational levels are distinguished into low, medium and high skilled.

Migration by gender

Total number of foreign-born individuals (all age groups) living in each of the 20 considered OECD destination countries by gender and country of origin.

Emigration rates

Proportion of migrants of the pre-migration population (defined as the sum of residents and migrants in each source country) by gender, skill level and year. Age group: 25 years and older.

Period surveyed

Date of publication

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