Experts in China have called for more measures from the government to stop the outflow of talent after an American study said 22 million Chinese want to leave the country and settle in the US.
The findings by Gallup showed that about 13 per cent of the world's adults - or more than 640 million people - said they would like to leave their country permanently, according to the Global Times daily.
The US is the most desired destination for potential migrants. Around 150 million people want to move to the US, including 22 million from China, 15 million from Nigeria and 10 million from India.
According to Gallup, the results were based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with 452,199 people, aged 15 and older, in 151 countries and regions from 2009 to 2011.
The findings sparked a mixed response, with some skeptical about the data.
"The survey cannot reflect the real picture in China," said He Weiwen, a co-director of the China-US-EU Study Center.
Statistics from the US government showed that Chinese migrants to the country were rising.
In 2011, the US granted green cards to 1.06 million immigrants, among whom, 87,000 were from China. The figure was 16,000 more than in 2010.
According to Gallup, the main reason for choosing the US was its society's openness to migrants, followed by other reasons such as opportunities to join family members or to start a new business.
Official statistics in China showed that from the late 1970s to 2011, the number of Chinese studying abroad was more than two million, but only 818,400 of them returned.