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Brits driven abroad by crime and prices - 25 February 2008

A new survey has revealed that two-third of Britons would consider moving overseas for their retirement, citing rising crime and falling standards of living, along with the more expected climate advantages, as their reasons for leaving.

The survey, carried out by the YouGov and commissioned by Foreign Currency Direct, has shown that some 67 per cent of the people questioned were keen to move out of the UK permanently when they retire, and a quarter of those people said they would go to a country they have never visited before.

The overwhelming reason that people said they wanted to leave the UK was the declining quality of life, and nine out of ten people also said they can only see the situation getting worse. Other reason given for wanting to quit Britain were the levels of immigration, rising crime rates, bad weather, the high cost of living and the high prices of property for those wishing to move.

Somewhat more alarmingly, some 85 per cent of respondents said they would not feel guilty about leaving and nearly two-thirds said they would never want to come back. The survey uncovers a depth of feeling among the older generation that the government is ruining the way of life they cherished growing up, and no longer feel comfortable in their own country.

At the same time, another study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has uncovered a ‘brain drain’ of large numbers of skilled and highly-qualified young workers leaving the UK. We have the second-highest emigration rates in the world, behind Mexico, and of the 3.2 million British-born people living overseas, more than a million are highly-skilled graduates.

 

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