Brain drain: how the exodus of talent is redefining the map of Europe

When a region invests in human capital but fails to create an environment capable of retaining it, mobility ceases to be an opportunity and becomes a driver of structural talent loss. With the departure of the most qualified young people, the affected regions enter a downward spiral that slows their economic growth and weakens their public services, pushing more and more professionals to emigrate. Breaking out of this vicious circle requires a comprehensive strategy for investment, employment, and talent retention.

This phenomenon is linked to the “talent development trap,” a concept used by the European Commission to identify territories unable to compensate for the loss of working population due to depopulation and aging. Currently, 46 regions are in this situation, including nearly all of Bulgaria and Romania, Sicily, and the Alentejo region of Portugal.

Another 36 territories, including Extremadura, Castile and León, and Castile-La Mancha, are at risk of falling into this trap in the coming years. Together, they represent around 30% of the EU’s population. Although most are located in eastern and southern Europe, parts of former East Germany, northern France, and Finland are also affected.

The brain drain map is not uniform: depending on the country, it can be mainly internal or external. In Spain, it occurs mainly from inland regions to Madrid and the coast; in Lithuania, to the rest of the EU.

Spain is therefore not among the European countries most affected by brain drain. Spanish university graduates residing in other EU countries represent 1.5% of the university population residing in the country, while in Romania and Croatia it exceeds double digits. According to Eurostat, the European destinations with the most Spaniards of working age are Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy. Even so, according to a Eurofound survey, half of young Spaniards plan or wish to move abroad in the next three years.

“Spain trains more university graduates than its productive system can absorb,” says Miguel González Leonardo, a researcher at the Center for Demographic Studies. As a result, Spanish university students in other EU countries have an employment rate up to four points higher than those who remain in Spain, a pattern also present in Greece, Italy, Austria, and France.

Job openings for highly skilled workers in Spain tend to offer uncompetitive salaries, and although the economic recovery temporarily slowed emigration, the rising cost of living and housing is once again driving people to leave. “Living abroad is no longer much more expensive than in Spain, but you do earn more,” concludes González Leonardo.

A key factor is investment in R&D. Spain reached a level of expenditure equivalent to 1.5% of GDP in 2024, far from the EU average (2.2%) and well below Sweden (3.6%), the European leader. This limits the ability to retain researchers and specialists in fields such as medicine, exacerbating the loss of competitiveness and the deterioration of services.

In short, the brain drain represents a structural failure in the single market as a result of the imbalance between training, employment, and living conditions in a territory. Understanding why this is happening and how to address it is one of the big questions to be resolved for the European Union, especially at a time of demographic transition and strong global competition for talent with the US and China.

From “win-win” to a threat to the European project

“During the process of European Union enlargement, special emphasis was placed on freedom of movement, which was considered a ‘win-win’ for everyone,” notes László Andor, secretary general of the European Foundation for Progressive Studies. Today, in many peripheral countries and regions, free movement is perceived as a brake on economic development, increasing resentment towards European institutions.

Migration to the wealthier countries of Europe became a massive phenomenon during the financial crisis, especially from Eastern and Southern Europe. Most of those who emigrated at that time have not returned. “The most skilled workforce in our country is now working in the European Union. This leaves us unable to build infrastructure, with no nurses in hospitals and no teachers in schools,” explains Emil Boc, former Prime Minister of Romania between 2008 and 2012.

“We probably took too long to realize that the EU needed to work for fair mobility rather than simply for free movement,” admits Andor, European Commissioner for Employment between 2010 and 2014. To reverse this situation, in 2023 the European Commission presented the “Talent Boost Mechanism,” a pilot project that seeks to support regions in training, retaining, and attracting the most educated population. In Spain, Extremadura and Castile and León have participated.

“The Single Market should empower citizens, rather than creating circumstances in which they feel compelled to move in order to prosper. Free movement is a valuable asset, but it must be a choice, not a necessity,” warns the Letta report, which, together with the Draghi report, forms the European Commission’s roadmap for the future of the Single Market. In the report, presented in March 2024, the former Italian prime minister goes further and advocates encouraging EU migrants to return to their countries of origin, with subsidies targeted at small businesses and researchers. But do these policies work?

Sierdjan Koster, professor of Economic Geography and Labor Market Dynamics at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands), advocates acting before talent leaves. “We must try to target talent from an early age, when they are still in high school, and show them the opportunities that exist in their own region,” he says. “Retention policies, such as supporting internships or additional courses, do not require a large investment. On the other hand, when someone leaves a region in crisis and earns two to four times more than before, it is difficult for them to return,” adds László Andor.

There is therefore no foolproof recipe for reversing the brain drain, but there are pitfalls that should be avoided. For example, the proliferation of similar initiatives a few miles apart, without coordination or continuity. “There is a risk of creating a patchwork of disconnected projects,” warns Thijs Broekhuizen, professor of Innovation Management and Strategy at the University of Groningen.

Even so, there are models that lead the way. In Cluj-Napoca, Romania’s second most populous city, Emil Boc has made attracting and retaining human capital a strategic priority. As mayor of this university enclave, his approach is based on a simple idea: in order for young people to stay, you have to offer a city that is worth living in, guaranteeing levels of well-being comparable to those of large European cities.

The strategy is based on focusing on the knowledge economy to attract skilled and well-paid employment; investing in infrastructure—with the construction of a metro network and the expansion of its airport—and strengthening public services by leveraging European funds.

Initiatives such as the electronic music festival Untold have also boosted the city’s cultural life. But this model does not work without affordable housing. “We will lose our young generation and hand Europe over to extremists and populists if we do not implement a community program for accessible housing,” he warns.

The example of Cluj fits in with a key principle of the EU. Building a prosperous single market is not possible without regional convergence and territorial cohesion, as argued by Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission. “Cohesion policy is not charity, it is the glue that holds Europe together,” emphasizes Emil Boc. The challenge is to turn the brain drain into an opportunity to strengthen the territories rather than a permanent loss.

What would make a return possible?

“With support and return policies, there can be brain circulation. Researchers who train abroad can bring great value to Spanish universities,” notes Francisco José Maldonado, president of the Network of Associations of Spanish Researchers and Scientists Abroad (RAICEX). The problem is not the mobility of the qualified professionals, but rather the lack of opportunities and incentives to return.

For “brain circulation” to be a reality, researchers are calling for structural changes in the university system. The urgency of these reforms is reflected in the fact that six out of ten postdoctoral researchers in the EU acknowledge that temporary contracts and job insecurity greatly affect their personal lives, according to a survey by the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc).

This precariousness also explains why mobility is not always a real option. “When we talk about research mobility, we usually refer to the mobility of the researcher. Not everyone can afford it, whether for economic or family reasons,” observes Norbert Bencze, secretary of Eurodoc. If mobility cannot be a requirement, the system must offer flexible alternatives to retain talent.

“Many researchers would agree to return if they could keep part of their work at their previous institution, without completely giving up their previous position,” says Francisco José Torralba, a postdoctoral researcher in computational neuroscience at the University of Tartu (Estonia), who believes that dual affiliation should be promoted to encourage brain circulation.

This flexibility is also seen in other systems, such as the British one, where “it is common for professionals to alternate between industry and academia, combine both activities, or specialize in teaching or research,” Javier Pardo points out, manager at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the body that funds and coordinates research and innovation in the United Kingdom.

“I did my PhD in computer science at the University of Oxford, but it is not automatically recognized in Spain,” explains Pardo. The recognition of degrees obtained at foreign universities is one of the main headaches for researchers abroad, and as it currently stands, it discourages them from returning to Spain. The process of homologation is often slow and costly, requiring multiple steps and, frequently, travel. “In Lithuania, certain authorized universities directly manage the academic equivalence of foreign degrees, which simplifies the process,” adds Torralba.

But even if these administrative barriers were resolved, returning would still face a structural obstacle: job instability. “Researchers with established positions abroad would return to worse conditions and, in many cases, to temporary contracts with no guarantee of continuity,” explains Torralba. As an example, he points to the Ramón y Cajal scholarships, which offer a five-year contract but “without a real commitment to subsequent stabilization.”

“Some have done very well and have decided to stay in the country that gave them an opportunity; others are clear that they want to return.”

“The lack of opportunities drives many out of the research system. We are overqualified, precarious, and undervalued. When I say what I earn, many people don’t believe me, because it is incomprehensible that someone with my training and experience has such a low salary,” says Almudena Muñoz, a research professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, who returned to Spain in 2025 after teaching for three years in Brazil.

Even so, returning is not an aspiration shared by all researchers working abroad. “Some have done very well and have decided to stay in the country that gave them an opportunity; others are clear that they want to return to Spain, and others would only do so under the right conditions,” explains Rodrigo García Valiente, a doctoral student in the Netherlands.

Therefore, the challenge is not only to recover national talent, but also to make Spain an attractive destination for researchers from any country. “Rather than focusing on renowned profiles, we should focus on fundamental researchers, who are the ones who sustain the system,” explains Francisco José Torralba.

To do this, it is essential to “publish the contents of university websites and positions in English, offer reasonable start dates, and make it easier for those working abroad to understand the university system and the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council),” summarizes Javier Pardo. “These are measures that do not involve a drastic change in the system, but they make it easier for those abroad to consider coming to Spain,” he concludes.

And on the other side… the abyss

The US science system, which for decades acted as a magnet for global talent, is beginning to crack. The Trump administration has proposed cutting federal spending on non-military R&D by 36%—still pending approval—while political pressure on science and institutional polarization are leading to uncertainty and a loss of appeal.

“Spanish researchers in the US are in a complicated situation,” acknowledges Torralba, who is also president of Raicex. In Trump’s first year in office, federal science agencies lost 20% of their staff and 7,840 research grants were canceled or suspended, according to Nature magazine. New international students in the US have fallen by 17% this academic year, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE).

Republican policies in the US open a window of opportunity for the EU if it is willing to take advantage of it. To do so, Europe must position itself as a real competitor in the global race for talent, facilitating the arrival of researchers and improving their working conditions, argues Norbert Bencze. “It must demonstrate that evidence-based policies prevail, that professionalism counts, and that it is willing to defend its social model,” states László Andor.

The United Kingdom is a good example of the risks of nationalism and border closure policies. Brexit has broken the logic of talent circulation that sustained the British research system. Its international alliances have been weakened and economic and administrative barriers have multiplied: expensive visas, “international student” fees, and loss of access to state loans for European students. As a result, “the system no longer necessarily attracts the brightest minds, but rather those who can afford to stay, displacing European students in favor of wealthy families from Asia or Africa,” says Javier Pardo.

This risk is not unique to the United Kingdom. The European Union also runs the risk of repeating the mistakes that have eroded the British and American scientific and academic systems. In the Netherlands, international talent “is under pressure” from anti-immigration rhetoric, which has slowed the arrival of international students, according to Sierdjan Koster. “Foreign talent drives innovation and strengthens institutions. The social benefits received by this group are used as fuel by populists,” he concludes.

The EU may be the alternative to chaos: a bloc where science is not subject to political ups and downs and where mobility has a return ticket. But to achieve this, it must demonstrate that talent is retained through opportunities for progress and a shared project that leaves no one behind. Otherwise, European brains will continue to emigrate and the abyss that the US and the UK are now facing will end up engulfing Europe.

This article is published in collaboration with the European Data Journalism Network in the context of ChatEurope and is released under a CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Original source: https://www.elconfidencial.com/mundo/europa/2026-02-09/fuga-cerebros-espana-talento_4293548/.