Perhaps you've heard the saying, the future of a nation is as bright as the students who graduate from its schools and universities.

In our case that's a bright future. For a start, that's because the numbers are good. Some 44 per cent of people between the ages of 25 and 34 have attained at least tertiary level education - the seventh highest rate in the world according to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook.

And the quality is great: New Zealand has the highest percentage of 15-year-olds in the world who rank as "high performing" on standardised tests - three times the OECD average and twice as many per capita as in the US, Canada, Germany and Switzerland.

On top of that, our education system is ranked 10th among OECD countries.

The shine on these statistics is often overshadowed by the fact that such large numbers of our best and brightest pack their bags and put their talent to work in other countries.

More than 750,000 Kiwis, or one in six of us, live overseas.

Within that group, we find that 24 per cent of all highly skilled New Zealanders work overseas - the highest proportion of any country in the OECD. Read more.

Credit: www.nzherald.co.nz