Britain has lost more skilled workers to the global "brain drain" than any other country in the world, according to a groundbreaking report by the World Bank.

More than 1.44 million graduates have quit the UK to seek more highly paid jobs in countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia.

This far outweighs 1.26 million immigrant graduates in the UK leaving a net "brain loss" of some 200,000 people.

The findings will fuel concerns that Britain's failure to defend its manufacturing, science and university base is pushing highly skilled workers overseas and risks damaging the country's long-term productivity.

The scale of the emigration as a share of the total skilled workforce is also high.

At 16.7 per cent - or one in every six graduates - is much higher than any other major industrialised country.

In stark contrast France has lost just 3.4 per cent of her graduates, the lowest level of any large country.

Frederic Docquier, one of the report's authors, said: "It does show an economic problem for developed countries.

"For developed countries such as the UK a brain drain is clearly a loss.

It may impact the rate of growth and the number of innovations that create growth in the long-run," he told The Independent.

He said the problem was exacerbated by the relatively low level of university education in the UK, which meant the exodus of professionals was more keenly felt.

While less than 20 per cent of Britons are educated the degree level, the figures are higher in the Continent - 27 per cent in Belgium, 25 per cent in Germany and 22 in France - and way below the levels seen in the US.

His research suggested that British graduates were mainly moving to the US, Canada and Australia.

"That is not surprising given the common language," he said.

But he said the sheer scale of emigration was much higher than rivals such as Germany.

"Many Germans go to the US but the British are everywhere," he said.

"You can go to any country and you will find a British graduate - that's why the figures are so high."The most attractive destination is the US, which has 400,000 Britons followed by Canada and Australia with 365,000 each, 200,000 to the rest of the EU.

Some 120,000 go to other member countries of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development that includes states such as Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

Graduates are even going to India to work in call centres.