Britain experiencing worst brain drain in over 50 years

Britain is facing the worst brain drain with more than one in ten of its most skilled citizens leaving the country in the pursuit of greener pastures abroad. Over a quarter of people who have left the country are health or medical professionals.

There are now 3.247 million British-born people living abroad, of whom more than 1.1 million are highly-skilled university graduates, according to an international authoritative study by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development. The study, however, did not go into the reasons behind the exodus.

It said the United States was the biggest gainer as 62 per cent of world's scientists live there with various American universities striving to attract them.

Interestingly, Britain was also among those countries, which attracted a huge number of immigrants. The large influx of people from all over the world, which of late has been the point of a raging debate, has balanced the scale.

Office for National Statistics data suggested that 207,000 Britons-- one every three minutes-- left in 2006. The emigration rate is at its highest since just after the Second World War.

''British people have lots of opportunities to move and work abroad so very highly-skilled people are traveling around. It is seen by many British people as part of their personal development to have some experience abroad,'' a spokesperson for OECD was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.