International migration by education attainment, 1990-2000.

For the last few years, the pace of international migration has accelerated. Accord-ing to the United Nations (2002), the number of international migrants increasedfrom 154 million to 175 million between 1990 and 2000. The consequences forcountries of origin and destination have attracted the increased attention of policy-makers, scientists, and international agencies. The phenomenon is likely to furtherdevelop in the coming decades as a part of the world globalization process. Theinternational community must be prepared to address the challenges raised by theincreasing mobility of workers. In particular, the migration of skilled workers (theso-called brain drain) is a major piece of the migration debate. The transfer1ofhuman resources has undergone extensive scrutiny in developing countries butalso in such industrial countries as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany,where an important fraction of talented natives is working abroad (...)