MEXICO CITY, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Mexico is experiencing a brain drain, with highly educated workers moving to the United States, experts say.
The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that educated workers are being driven from Mexico by a weak economy.
"We're permanently losing our best minds and best hands from both the countryside and the urban centers," said Rodolfo Tuiran, Mexico's education undersecretary and a demographic expert. "These people represent a tremendous potential for Mexico's future economic development. Their migration needs to be reversed, or Mexico risks its future."
Many well-educated immigrants say they're exiling themselves from a country where there is limited opportunity and rising security risks, the newspaper reported.
An estimated 14,000 of the 19,000 Mexicans with doctorates live in the United States, the International Organization for Migration says.
"Nowadays, Americans are benefiting from both gardeners and engineers coming to the United States," said Jorge Dominguez, professor of Mexican and Latin American politics and economics at Harvard University. "That's a significant shift in migration patterns."
