brain drain

Meanings

1. The migration of educated or talented people from less economically advanced areas to more economically advanced areas, especially to large cities or more developed nations.
2. A Jackson-Pratt drain.

1. Of a nation or society, to be deprived of educated or talented people, who in turn migrate to larger cities or more developed nations.
2. To become mentally or psychologically fatigued or exhausted.

Etymology

Coined by spokesmen for the Royal Society of London in the early 1950s to describe the outflow of scientists and technologists to the United States and Canada.