Australia is the most desirable expat location for Brits
A recent survey of potential expats still living in the UK shows that Australia is the most desirable location, but most of the rest of the results are a bit puzzling to say the least. The fine folks at Skyscanner surveyed Brits and revealed that 90% of them would “consider moving abroad in the next 5 years for a better and wealthier life.”
The list of their preferred locations reveals that this might not actually be a serious survey, but it’s interesting nonetheless. If it’s true that most of them are motivated by a better financial future then Australia makes sense as it’s weathered the global financial storm better than just about anyone else, but the rest of the list is jammed with countries whose economies are in as bad if not worse shape than the UK’s.
- Australia (15%)
- Spain (14%)
- USA (13%)
- Canada (8%)
- New Zealand (7%)
- France (6%)
- Italy (5.5%)
- Cyprus (3%)
- Portugal (2.5%)
- Thailand (2%)
Is this really more about the weather?
One thing I’ve learned by hanging out with my English friends here in Mediterranean Turkey is that all of them really despise the weather in the UK. Spain has long been a hot spot for Brits to relocate to, but unless you are a pensioner the job prospects are going to be pretty slim for the most part in the coming years.
Speaking to Brits about the weather you get a lot of the “which day does summer fall on this year?” sort of jokes, so it’s easy to see why people would daydream about relocating to Spain or Portugal or Italy. For this reason Canada seems a surprising entry since it’s barely a step up from England weather-wise.
It’s quite a shame for anyone considering leaving the UK or elsewhere in Northern Europe that the countries with the best weather are generally the ones falling off a financial cliff so the prospects of finding a new job there are not great.
The whole 5-year timeframe of this survey, plus that it’s an opt-in survey on a flight booking site seems to show that these results aren’t to be taken too seriously. In fact, since they promised a free Kindle as a prize for one lucky entrant it’s pretty easy to tell that the above list is really just a list of countries where Brits would dream of moving to rather than a list of countries people are actively considering.
Both Sydney and Melbourne are in the top 10 most expensive cities in the world at the bottom. Sydney has gone up to number 3. I think many Brits would want to move because of the weather but unless you are under 31years old or have some serious skills you can offer Australia, it’ll be nothing more than a pipe dream for many. Its a shame because it is such a nice country!