Integration of national economies with the world economy has increased the economic interdependence among nations and consequently increased global welfare. At the same time, globalization has further boosted outflow of scarce professional skills from many developing and poor nations to affluent countries. The socioeconomic implications in the long run for the developing and poor nations resulting from international migration are highly debatable. This article discusses various issues and statistical findings related to international migration. It also discusses the policy measures that are to be initiated both at the government and corporate level to keep international migration at a socially acceptable level.

"Brain Drain" or drain of social capital may be referred as outflow of scarce professional skills such as doctors, engineers, nurses and technical talents, etc., from poor and developing nations to developed countries. The concept of brain drain migration gained popularity in the 1960s, when a number of poor countries across the globe lost skilled manpower. Over the period 1990 to 2002, international migration has exceeded more than 40 millions. Currently, the migrants across the globe account for approximately 2.5% of the world population. There is a burgeoning concern about the long-term socioeconomic consequences that would result from international migration of technically qualified persons from the developing countries to the rich nations.

In the recent years, integration of national economies with the world economy has further expanded the scope of emigration of skilled professionals from developing countries. The positive aspect of international migration is that, the migrant workforces send remittance income to their home country and secondly, international migrations partly ease out the unemployment and underemployment problems in the labor surplus developing countries. These are the beneficial aspects of international migration.

However, these benefits are received at the expense of certain costs, both social as well as economic; whose long-term effect might have serious repercussions on the sending nation's economy. The migration mechanism may be analyzed in terms of the `push-pull' model. Push factors drive people to leave home and pull factors attract migrants to a new location in search of better job opportunities and different lifestyle. The major driving forces that stimulate international migration are the high real wage differentials and the low cost of migration. The net social and economic effects on both the sending and receiving countries resulting from international migration are still questionable. In this backdrop, the article discusses some issues and evidence related to international migration.

Global CEO Magazine, International Migration, Brain Drain, National Economies, Wworld Economy, Globalization, Socioeconomic Consequences, International Labor Migration, Domestic Labor Markets, Global Migration, International Migration Policy.