The number of Britons who want to leave the country soon has doubled in three years, a poll has revealed.

 

The survey found 13 per cent want to emigrate in the near future, rising from 7 per cent in a similar poll just three years ago.

For the young, life abroad is even more of an appealing prospect, with a quarter of 18 to 25-year-olds saying they would move elsewhere if they could.

A better quality of life was the reason more than a third gave for wanting to up sticks, the BBC News website poll found.

Just under a third wanted to move somewhere warmer, while almost a quarter said Britain had become too expensive.

Australia is the most popular destination - 40 per cent of those polled said they wanted to move there permanently. Spain, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S. were also high up the list.

It isn't a love for their homeland that keeps would-be emigrants here, the survey by ICM revealed. Only one in five liked Britain too much to leave, although 43 per cent said family ties were the main reason they had not taken the plunge yet.

Emigration is being investigated by the Institute of Public Policy Research. Associate director Danny Sriskandarajah said the UK lost more residents through emigration than it

gained from immigration throughout much of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. He said: 'Today, Brits are emigrating in record numbers and there are actually more British nationals living abroad than there are foreign nationals living in the UK.'

Today's poll suggested that emigration would increase, he said. 'It is reassuring that most people see emigration as an opportunity to have a better life or get a better job. Very few people are fleeing what they see as a sinking ship.

'Emigration from the UK has important policy implications that have not received enough attention.

'We need to understand more about what will happen as more young people head off on overseas adventures, more skilled people are lured away by other countries, and more pensioners retire to all corners of the map.'

Official figures released last week showed the number of Britons abroad has risen to nearly five million. They are spread around the globe in numbers rivalling those of the days of the Empire - and in far more countries.

A count of British passport holders published by the Foreign Office found sizeable expatriate communities in almost 100 countries, ranging from nearly 800,000 in China, boosted by passport holders among the population of the former British enclave of Hong Kong, to 300 in Mongolia. At

the zenith of the British Empire in 1921 there were just 20,000 military and civil British personnel in India - barely more than half the number there today.

In 2004, more than 200,000 went to live abroad, up by two-thirds in five years. And 80,000 more Britons emigrated than returned to Britain after living abroad.

The Foreign Office breakdown showed the greatest numbers of

Britons, apart from in China, are the 615,500 in Australia and the 527,500 in the U.S. Two-way migration between Britain and Australia has always been high and has increased with cheaper flights.

I love england... but I want a new challange in life..

Well London sucks - that's for sure. I can't really pass comment on other areas, as I haven't lived there. However, the cost of living in England is far too high, that's for sure..............................

Manchester is a very cool place... just as cool as barca !

Manchester is a very cool place... just as cool as barca !

 

I think you'll find Barca is actually much warmer!!:D

Well it's a case now if your an immegrant who can't speak much english and have no basic skills you will get a better chance of getting a job than if your english person who has excellent english skills and all the basic skills, because companies are forced to employ people from minorities to say "look we care".

They must know my mum!

One day I hope to move to Canada

Can you take my mum with you?

Alright

YES!!!!!!

 

(shame your not going to Mars)

I would like to move to Canada.. or England. :)

I would like to move to Canada.. or England. :)

 

It would definitely be Canada for me.

:lol: You guys do realise it's cold in Canada, right? But I like it here anyway.

 

I wish I could move to the UK, Ireland or New Zeland... but I doubt it would ever really happen- I would miss my family too much.

Scotland's nice, come here

:lol: You guys do realise it's cold in Canada, right? But I like it here anyway.

.

 

Well on the west coast (Vancouver Island, for example), the climate is actually pretty mild, which is why a lot of Europeans move out there. So that would do for me!:D

It's damn cold the UK right now, you don't have to go to Canada for that.

It's damn cold the UK right now' date=' you don't have to go to Canada for that.[/quote']

 

Had enough already??:P

cold already???!!! :o

 

 

its mild here today in NY.. about 70F. This morning was 65F!!

cold already???!!! :o

 

 

its mild here today in NY.. about 70F. This morning was 65F!!

 

Sounds good! And how's the "ozone"??

Had enough already??:P

 

nope, Liverpool is a great place to live but it's very cold here. I don't mind though.

nope' date=' Liverpool is a great place to live but it's very cold here. I don't mind though.[/quote']

 

It's always cold "oop north". Didn't anyone warn you beforehand??:P

They did but I don't mind the cold.

They did but I don't mind the cold.

 

So why were you complaining about it?:confused:

I didn't complain, I just mentioned that because someone said that Canada was very cold.