Migratory Meanderings

The Master Procrastinator

note to self—Just get off your butt and get those forms filled in already!

Get A New Life

I find it kind of interesting (and ironic) that even though loads of people from other countries are arriving in the UK to start a new life here, (this isn’t a political judgement by any means; it’s just what the media reports on a fairly regular basis), loads of Brits are emigrating elsewhere. What the shift will do demographically to the UK’s population remains to be seen, but the other night we watched a very interesting TV programme, called Get A New Life. Its premise is that several families are followed through the process of relocating abroad. One family will be chosen to receive assistance by the show, the rest will be left to muddle through it themselves. Not exactly fair, if you ask me but it’s a different spin on “reality TV”.

Anyway, the show counted down the most popular countries that Brits emigrate to, interspersed with short profiles of one family who would like to move to each country. The survey was conducted by the programme makers, so it probably isn’t quite indicitive of the entire British population but the results are still interesting. So without further adieu, here’s the list—in reverse order, just to give you a bit of suspense—plus the amount of Brits surveyed by the programme who want to move there. (Thanks to G who took good notes!)

8. Barbados 2%
7. Italy 4%
6. France 8%
5. Canada 8%
4. New Zealand 9%
3. America 11%
2. Spain 16%
1. Australia 19%

These figures surprised us, actually. I knew Australia was popular with Brits wanting to relocate (Kylie Minogue fans aside), but I thought that America would be much more popular than it was—especially since Brits have this facination with the States. But what also surprised me about the results is that even though it’s fairly easy to move to another country within the European Union, not many Brits would actually want to move there (with the exception of Spain—perhaps because they think it would be one long summer holiday?).

The show also provided some very interesting statistics about emigration.
—1 person in 12 living in the East of England want to move to France.
—24% of Brits surveyed want to emigrate because of the decline of the UK. (!!!)
—25% of 25-35 year olds think Britain is too expensive a country to live in. (!!!)
—Almost 1/2 of people in the North West of England have considered emigrating.
—The American visa programme is the most complicated in the world.
—Everyday living is 30% cheaper in Canada compared to Britain; America is approximately 20% cheaper.
—4000 Brits move to Canada every year.

But what struck me about listening to the featured families’ stories is that they voiced exactly the same concerns as we are right now—namely, what if we can’t settle, what if we can’t find work, what if we miss the UK terribly…but at the end of the day, their spirit of adventure and the hope of a better lifestyle (corny and clicheed as it sounds) is what’s spurring them on, despite of all the hassle of doing it. Having said that, some of the reasons why people wanted to emigrate sounded pretty superficial and it really came through that they hadn’t really thought such a big move through or prepared themselves for the change—the family who wanted to move to Spain wanted to move to the holiday island of Ibiza (pronounced eye-BEE-tha for some strange reason) because they liked the holiday lifestyle and they wanted to be closer to English footballing hero David Beckham (who is now playing for Real Madrid—traitor!). The family who wanted to move to the States wanted a “slower lifestyle” even though the family wanted to move to Boston (!!!) and the statistics show that Americans have the longest work week of any place in the world…but it’ll be interesting to follow the families to see how they cope.

(And the family who was chosen to receive the assistance with the move? The empty-nester couple who are moving to Italy. Where’s the challenge in that?!)