The US slipped a spot to 13 and Britain was steady at 21, based on the latest internationally comparable data from 2007. Niger ranked lowest, followed by Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.

In Australia, life expectancy rose three months and income rose 4 per cent on a year earlier, the report's author, Jeni Klugman, said. But the scale does not account for inequality within a country and is not a representation of its allure to migrants.

 

Instead, the human development index ranks countries into tiers of development. Most international migration is contained within those tiers. For instance, less than 1 per cent of Africans have moved to Europe, and just over a third of the world's 200 million international migrants moved from a developing country to a developed one. For the majority, the move is a more subtle one in search of greater opportunity. As a proportion of the world's population, the 3 per cent moving across borders has been stable for 50 years.

 

In Australia, attitudes to migration were positive as long as jobs were available. This was in line with most of the 52 countries surveyed. By contrast, 90 per cent of Malaysians were hostile to migration, whereas most Vietnamese welcomed anyone who wished to work.

Across the developed world, the tussle between nations to attract the world's most educated migrants is like a sports draft. Dr Klugman said: ''There's competition at the top end where countries like Australia do well relative to some countries in Europe which have had difficulties in attracting skilled people.''