The study, carried out for NatWest International Personal Banking by the Centre for Future Studies, found the number of UK adults living temporarily abroad is up by 58% compared with a similar study done in the previous year.
Over the last five years, the number of “temporary expats” has risen by 265% and this group now makes up 54% of all British expats.
Career driver
The survey, conducted between May and June 2015 and involving 2,647 British expats, found that in the majority of cases, the temporary expats were being sent overseas on work assignments in their roles as managers or executives (who made up 87% of temporary expats).
These expats saw taking a role overseas as essential career experience. Their average time spent abroad on assignment is three years.
The numbers of female expats has also shot up, rising by 32% over the latest 12-month period and by 116% over the past five years, as women begin to take managerial roles overseas to boost their careers.
The survey also revealed that the number of young expats, defined as aged between 25 and 35, had risen by 38% over the period 2014/15 and was up by 162% since 2011.
Expat change
Dave Isley, head of NatWest International Personal Banking, said the latest survey findings show that over the eight years the bank has been tracking the market there has been a significant shift in the types of people who become “expats”.
For a long time the typical British expat was a retiree enjoying their later years in the sun but now the decision to move abroad was about work, he said.
“The average expat has changed due to a number of factors within our increasingly global society.
“Ambitious young workers are more prepared than ever before to chase professional opportunities abroad, as companies simultaneously have continued to expand overseas,” Isley said.
“This ‘new expat’ is happy to compromise some other aspects of their life in the short term, in order to improve their job prospects. Advances in technology have also allowed family, friends and even employers to keep in close contact with those living abroad, making the option especially attractive,” he added.
Due to the growing diversity in management positions of global businesses, female expats have also increased significantly since 2011 as women also begin to take senior roles overseas, in order to boost their careers.
The growing number of expats motivated by their careers is also behind the rise in the number of female expats and the proportion of young British people living abroad who now make up 27% of all expats.
“It is exciting to see such significant changes in the make-up of the average expat over the last eight years,” Isley said.
“The opportunity to live abroad is now available to a far greater variety of people than a decade ago and this should be welcomed.”
