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Background The past two decades have been marked by impressive growth in the migration of medical doctors. The medical profession is among the most mobile of highly skilled professions, particularly in Europe, and is also the sector that experiences the most serious labour shortages. However, surprisingly little is known about how medical doctors choose their destinations. In addition, the literature is scarce on the factors determining the sharp rise in the migration of doctors from Africa, Asia and Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and how the last economic crisis has shaped the migration flows of health professionals. Methods We use the new module on health worker migration provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2000–2016 in order to examine the channels through which OECD countries attract foreign physicians from abroad. We estimate a gravity model using the Pseudo-Poisson Maximum Likelihood estimator. Results Our results reveal that a lower unemployment rate, good remuneration of physicians, an aging population, and a high level of medical technology at the destination are among the main drivers of physicians’ brain drain. Furthermore, an analysis of the mobility of medical doctors from a number of regions worldwide shows that individuals react differently on a country-wise basis to various determinants present in the destination countries. Physicians from African countries are particularly attracted to destination countries offering higher wages, and to those where the density of medical doctors is relatively low. Concurrently, a higher demand for healthcare services and better medical technology in the receiving country drives the inflow of medical doctors from Central and Eastern Europe, while Asian doctors seem to preferentially migrate to countries with better school systems. Conclusions This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the channels through which OECD countries attract foreign medical doctors from abroad. We find that, apart from dyadic factors, a lower unemployment rate, good remuneration of physicians, an aging population, and good medical infrastructure in the host country are among the main drivers of physicians’ brain drain. Furthermore, we find that utility from migration to specific countries may be explained by the heterogeneity of origin countries.

Treballs Finals de Grau en Geografia, Facultat de Geografia i Història, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2012-2013, Tutor: Sergi Martínez Rigol, En un principi, es volia fer un estudi demogràfic a una escala més petita, concretament a la ciutat de Barcelona, per tal d’analitzar les conseqüències socials i demogràfiques de la crisi sobre les diferents variables escollides. Posteriorment, i amb la recomanació del tutor del treball, es va creure més oportú encarar el tema de les conseqüències de la crisi des d’un altre perspectiva. Aquesta era la de centrar l’estudi en l’emigració dels joves qualificats, ja que aquest era un fenomen del qual se’n parlava poc, i que cada cop semblava tenir un pes més important en la societat catalana. Per tant, es va decidir realitzar els dos anàlisis, un referent a les diferents variables demogràfiques tal com s’havia plantejat des d’un principi, i un altre encarat a l’estudi del fenomen de l’emigració dels joves catalans, és a dir, l’escala passava a ser Catalunya, ja que es va creure que així es podria obtenir una mostra més important de gent. Així doncs, l’anàlisi estadístic de les variables demogràfiques va servir per saber en quin context demogràfic s’estaven produint totes aquestes emigracions.