More Chinese will emigrate overseas in the coming years, leaving behind potential risks to the country's economy, according to a report.

According to the Annual Report on Chinese International Migration 2012, jointly released by the Center for China and Globalization and the Beijing Institute of Technology on December 17, the main factors driving such emigration include a pursuit of better education, safer investment environments and improved quality of life.

According to the report, there were more than 45 million overseas Chinese in 2010, the world's greatest population of emigrants.

In 2011, a total of 150,000-plus Chinese gained permanent residency in major emigration destinations, with the United States, Canada and Australia as the top three countries of choice, said the report.

It noted that the trend is likely to bring losses to the country in terms of assets and talent, pose obstacles to China's supervision over non-performing assets and complicate the development of its economy.

The United States was the top destination for Chinese emigrants and some 87,000 permanent residence permits were granted in 2011. Of these, 3,340 were approved through investment.

China is one of the major sources of investment immigration for Canada, and Chinese applicants accounted for 75 percent of the North American country's investment immigration in the past three years, according to the report.