Sunday, November 16, 2008

Always a lovely day...

The results of a recent poll of expats makes fascinating reading. The offshore bank Alliance & Leicester International surveyed UK expats specifically, asking them such questions as the reason for moving abroad, why they rate their new country over the UK, what downsides they find, etc.

In terms of why British expats preferred their new country, it is interesting to see the list of top ten factors and that quality of life and a higher standard of living rated second and third positions respectively. So, what is the No. 1 reason for Brits to live elsewhere? Well, the weather of course!

Given the reputation of Brits for always talking about the weather, and the UK having a climate that is the envy of few, I guess it is natural that this would be a major consideration, but perhaps surprising that it is the primary factor. Perhaps we need to be chatting about the weather more on this expat blog!

A safer environment, lower crime rate, slower pace of life, and better food were also rated in the top ten. In fact the report comes up with findings and destination breakdown too extensive to cover fully here, but there were some other interesting snippets...

For example, given that a massive 75% of Brits in France understandably rated the cuisine as a key reason, what about the poor expat souls (9%) who actually admit to missing British food!

Also, going back to the climate issue, in which countries are the 4% of British expats who miss the UK's weather?


Alliance & Leicester International

4 comments:

Nature Nut /JJ Loch said...

Great post. I am always intrigued why people migrate. It sounds adventuresome!!!

I tried posting before...hope you don't end up with two messages.

Cheers! JJ

Keith Pow-Williams said...

Nice to hear from you JJ. Yes, I guess most expats need a sense of adventure, just to relocate to a different culture and perhaps language. If you follow the link and download the report, it gives some breakdowns by destination country, likes and dislikes, etc. Quite fascinating!

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed this post because it was somewhat funny for me to read. Chuckled over the 9% that missed Britan's food and 4% that missed the weather! :) :)

Having lived over seas both in Europe and Australia/NZ I never missed the food, especially in Europe! The only thing I missed in the Australian tropics was snow - grew up in Maine skiing, sledding, skating, etc. BUT the insane thing is that when I finally got back to Maine winters I couldn't stand them!!! LOL I still can't and hence now live in New Mexico in the southwest USA. Lots of sun! And even here I don't like the winters. That tropical sun in Australia really changed me.

MaricrisG said...

We can't have it all! I couldn't even find a decent restaurant where I live that serves authentic food that I'm used to. - btw, stopping by via EC