Thousands of highly skilled professionals from India and China are leaving the United States because they see better economic opportunities in their home countries.

That's according to the Kauffman Foundation, which surveyed 256 U.S.-educated professionals from India and China who returned to their home countries to start businesses. Most were male and in their 30s.

More than 70 percent of Indian respondents said the opportunity to start their own business was better in India than in the States. More than 80 percent of Chinese returnees said business opportunities were better there. A majority from both nations said they took pride in contributing to their home country's economic development.

Most also said the quality of life in those countries was better or equal to that in the United States. The only advantage of living in America was higher pay.

Only 9 percent of entrepreneurs from both countries said visa issues were an important reason as to why they didn't stay here.

Nearly 135,000 Chinese returned to China in 2010 after receiving an education overseas, according to the Chinese Ministry of Education. That's up from 108,000 in 2009, which was a 56 percent increase from 2008.

Robert Litan, vice president of research and policy at Kauffman, said it's understandable why Chinese and Indian professionals are returning to their home countries.

"At the same time the U.S. economic downturn has diminished opportunities for these high-skilled professionals, recent economic and political reforms in their home countries have expanded the appeal of entrepreneurship there," he said. Entrepreneurs "will pursue opportunities where the grass is greener. The lesson for the United States is that regions that support entrepreneurship will remain important hubs in today's global economy."

The departures of these potential contributors to the U.S. economy aren't a total loss: Many of them are "maintaining close ties with their contacts in the United States," said Vivek Wadhwa, a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University.

As a result, both their home countries and the United States "will benefit from the decentralized, cross-regional collaborations that support innovation in today's global economy," Wadhwa said.

For more information, see kauffman.org

New census data shows that the number of U.S. businesses owned by people of Asian origin increased by more than 40 percent from 2002 to 2007.

That's more than twice the growth rate for businesses as a whole. As of 2007, there were 1.5 million Asian-owned businesses. These businesses generated $507 billion in revenue and employed nearly 3 million people.

"Asian-owned businesses continue to be one of the strongest segments of our nation's economy," said Thomas Mesenbourgh, deputy director of the U.S. Census Bureau.

California had the most Asian-owned businesses, followed by New York and Texas.

For more information, see census.gov