A survey of New Zealand working overseas shows that a quarter of Kiwi expats are not keen on going back home, the New Zealand Herald reported.

A quarter of the respondents said they intend to live elsewhere, while 27 per cent are looking for work in NZ.

For those no longer intending to come home, 35 per cent said their first choice for a new home country is Australia, while 27 per cent chose United Kingdom.

Only 14 per cent of the respondents said they would or were likely to return home permanently.

The survey, with over 15,000 respondents, was conducted online by Kea New Zealand, a non-profit organisation that promotes the welfare of Kiwi expats.

Thirty-three per cent of respondents specified higher income as reason for working overseas.

The survey found 46 per cent of the respondents make over $100,000 a year, and 20 percent of those aged over 50 is making more than $200,000.

The Herald reported that only 3.8 per cent of New Zealand's population makes more than $100,000 a year as of 2006, as recorded by Census.

Kea chief executive Dr. Sue Watson said the findings could be viewed in two ways, the first of which is that the NZ could be affected by brain drain, meaning they utilize their NZ education overseas and leave without sharing with their home country their skills and expertise. The second way is that NZ is exporting talent, but these people are going to help the country move forward with their foreign currency compensation.

At least 600,000 New Zealanders live overseas, including almost one in four of all highly educated Kiwis - the highest proportion of any OECD nation, reported the Herald.

Dr. Watson told the Herald the number of qualified New Zealanders going overseas follows a worldwide trend of "very talented" people who had international endeavors.

"They're very mobile talent. They might pop back to New Zealand for five years, then they might go across to Sydney, then maybe on to London," she said, adding that if these expats ever come back home to NZ, it would be for their families, and not better jobs.

"However, those skilled expats are likely to be able to get those high-paid and highly skilled jobs back in New Zealand," she added.