Six million Britons to live abroad by 2020

By 2020, an extra six million Britons will venture abroad to work or live, according to a new report by Alliance & Leicester International (ALIL), the offshore savings bank.

The Alliance & Leicester International (ALIL) report in conjunction with think tank, The Centre of Future Studies, found that one third of Britons are considering moving abroad to work or live. The reasons given for considering moving overseas include, 39% searching for a better quality of life, 38% hankering after new experiences and 25% relishing a new challenge.

A growing number of Britons will contemplate emigration, some even believing they ‘deserve’ to live abroad, as Britain’s ‘me-generation’ matures and becomes more ambitious, the lender said.

However, the biggest worries people have about moving and living overseas are missing their family (59%), the logistics of moving home (47%), healthcare (45%) and language (37%).

Simon Hull, Managing Director of Alliance & Leicester International said: “Emigration clearly is seen as a fresh start allowing people to reinvent their lifestyles and with luck, themselves too! It does seem to suggest a level of dissatisfaction with existing lifestyles such as, excessive stress in the workplace coupled with a negative impact on personal relationships and happiness.

“Our research forecasts that Britons will constantly be on the lookout to change their lifestyle at the blink of an eye. In the past, people may have moved abroad because of high unemployment levels in the UK – now they may move because of a superficial desire to do ‘something new’ for the sake of doing something.”

A growing appetite for overseas holidays has increased exposure to new experiences, fuelled by television programmes such as ‘A Place in the Sun’ – preparing the ground for later retirement abroad. Additionally, the increased affluence of British people coupled with the strong pound and booming property prices have boosted the market for overseas buying, the report found.

(gmcg)