One in Three Retire Abroad - Why?

There are several pieces of research that point out that that as many as one in three people say they are considering retiring abroad. Spain still remains the number one destination for Brits buying abroad and it is reported that 27% of all Emigration enquiries relate to Brits wanting to buy in Spain but figures show a marked slowdown in enquiries mainly due to high property prices ( more than double the prices of Bulgaria for example). There are 761,000 full time resident Brits in Spain (most are retirees) and around 200,000 in France. Note that while around 200,000 Brits leave the UK every year and around 200,000 people with at least 12 months stay also leave in the same year- there are 600,000 people that enter and stay in the UK every year. Hence; the overcrowding problem. The government official number of people granted British citizenship in 2007 was 164,635, a 7% increase on 154,020 in 2006.

More than 196,000 British nationals moved overseas last year, bringing the total number of Brits abroad to more than 5.5 million, according to new research from the Institute for Public Policy Research, published on December 11th, 2006. The report says that a strong economy at home has encouraged emigration and that very few Britons leave because they think ‘the country has gone to the dogs’.

IPPR’s report shows that almost one in ten Britons now lives abroad and that a British national emigrates every three minutes, predicting that another one million British nationals will move abroad over the next five years. According to a recent BBC survey- more UK citizens than ever are considering emigration with up to 13% seriously considering moving overseas.

Britain has more people living abroad than almost any other country. Approximately 8% of UK nationals live abroad and these tend to be capital rich retirees seeking warmer climates with a lower cost of living. 45-60 year olds ( the so called baby boomers ) in the UK account for 20 per cent of the population but have 70 per cent of the wealth. As they are reaching retirement, unprecedented numbers are moving abroad- mainly due to improving their quality of life. The top 10 countries where Brits live, together accounting for around 75 per cent of all Brits living abroad, are:

- Australia 1.3 million, equivalent to 2 per cent of UK population
- Spain 760,000
- USA 680,000
- Canada 600,000
- Ireland 290,000
- New Zealand 215,000
- South Africa 212,000
- France 200,000
- Germany 115,000
- Cyprus 59,000

Property prices have increased rapidly in the above countries

British citizens living abroad are also more spread out than any other nationals, with more than 10,000 living in 41 countries around the world and another 71 countries with more than 1,000 Brits.