As mentioned in a previous post, global expat statistics seem to indicate that a growing number of expats are now beginning to consider repatriation. This has to be an effect of the global economy beginning to falter, as there would seem to be no other indicator that has changed in recent years to cause this swing, or has there?
Let us dismiss the global economy for a moment, and consider the changes that have taken place in western culture over the last decade. Many expats left their home countries to take advantage of a lifestyle that was simply not obtainable at a reasonable price at home - this situation has changed somewhat, and it is now possible to have the kind of lifestyle expats have enjoyed by staying at home. Certainly it will not be as cheap, but for those working expats, they will earn significantly more when they repatriate.
So is the overall picture of expatriation changing? It would seem that less people are leaving their home nation for a lifestyle change, and younger people are joining the expat community as they seek better work prospects. Is this the start of a new generation of upwardly mobile expatriates?
1 comment:
My own experience and many other reports I've heard of expats in Spain, are that British expat pensioners, whose pensions are paid in sterling and whose expenses are in euros, particularly where they've been renting accommodation abroad, have been forced to return to Britain, because they just do not have enough to make ends meet. Presumably they had somewhere to go to in the UK; property they owned, family who would take them in, etc.
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