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As young people bear the brunt of a downturn in the jobs market, figures show a significant number are leaving the UK.
Although statisticians caution against comparing annual figures after a recent change in methodology and stress younger people are traditionally more drawn to emigration, a net 111,000 people aged 16 to 34 emigrated from the UK in the year to March 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics.
However, against the backdrop of a tough economy and high rents, young adults now living across the globe told the Guardian why they decided to leave Britain and how their new life compares.
The finance worker, Dubai
‘Working people are squeezed in the UK’
Ben*, 24, graduated in 2023, won a scholarship to a US university and had every intention of returning to the UK in 2025, but rapidly changed his mind.
“I am not keen on the UK at all right now. Push factors definitely outweigh the pull of the UK. London itself is a rip-off. Working people are squeezed, and the allure is waning. It’s a conversation I have pretty much every week with friends back there.” says Ben, an Oxbridge graduate, who now works in finance. Dubai has increasingly become home to individuals leaving the UK, US and Europe to work in the financial sector.
Ben adds: “Racial strife, toxic politics, a stagnant economy, regional inequality (which makes most other parts of the UK outside London non-starters for ambitious graduates) mean that there is very little the place has to offer.
“People around my age didn’t get to vote in 2016 and were first-time voters in 2019, by which point Brexit was a foregone conclusion, and they feel pretty screwed over.”
Ben, who says he “very much identifies as a British Nigerian”, took up his finance role in Dubai as a way to kickstart his career, he adds.
“The UAE wouldn’t be my ideal place to be, but it just happened to be that the job offer was there,” he says. “There are problems with the UAE, and I have some reservations. But if you are a young person and you’re looking to gain overseas experience, which allows for career progression, then the UAE is good for that.”
The sustainability worker, Berlin
‘I now never have to question if I can afford to do things’
Caitlin moved to London after university but couldn’t settle and, after a trip to Berlin, decided to move there three years ago.
“I really struggled to adapt to London, it was always so busy and expensive,” says Caitlin, 27, originally from Manchester. “I felt happier during those 10 days [in Germany] than I had in the entire last year, I decided to make the jump and move a few months later.
“I did my university year abroad in Berlin, so it was familiar to me, and I had already setup a community here to come back to.”
Her first job in Berlin was in customer service, and to start, she took work she was overqualified for to get a foot in the door and a working visa. Since then, she has transferred to a Blue Card visa – a residence permit for non-EU nationals – which she says has “given me much more flexibility”.
“It also makes it easier if I lose my job,” she adds. “There is a little more leniency as I get six months before I’d be told to leave the country if I hadn’t found work.”
When it comes to accommodation, there is a marked contrast with London.
“It is a renters’ economy here, so I have a rental contract for life with stabilised rent in a gorgeous, large apartment for quite a cheap price – it would be triple that in London,” says Caitlin.
However, Caitlin is one of the lucky ones. In the past few years, Berlin’s housing crisis has escalated to unprecedented proportions, with median asking rents across the city rising by 21.2% in 2023 alone.
One reason for this, among many, is a loophole in German federal law that means if flats are rented out as “temporary” and “furnished”, owners can evade tenancy regulations and charge considerably higher rents.
One aspect, however, that remains “a big barrier” for her is the language. “I am still learning German – it’s so hard,” she says. “It also counts me out of a lot of jobs”
“I do really miss my family and friends at home, and think that this, probably combined with career opportunities, will eventually draw me back.”
The digital nomad, Thailand
‘If I were in the UK, I wouldn’t be able to save’
After Maisie* graduated, she decided to go travelling and has been following the “sun and the digital nomad community” ever since, creating a regular pattern each year.
“That was about three years ago,” says Maisie, who is a freelance journalist and originally from North Yorkshire. “It has been life-changing.”
She moves away for four to six months of the year during the colder, winter periods, spending three to four months in south-east Asia, staying in Thailand, the Philippines and Laos. She then goes on to Europe in the spring before returning to the UK.
While she loves the north of England, she feels resentful at how her generation has been treated, citing Brexit and her “crippling” student loan. She says she is bitter about being unable to get on the property ladder.
“I don’t feel that the younger generations in the UK are being looked after,” she says. “I feel as though the odds have been stacked against me from the beginning.”
She says it is cheaper for her to live in south-east Asia over the winter than the UK.
Maisie calculates her outgoings, including shared accommodation, food, travel, and flights, at “about £1,000 a month”.
“The irony is I am saving more money travelling than I would if I lived in the UK, and I am still having a really nice quality of life.”
“I do get tired from travelling, but I think ‘slowmadding’ – living slower and longer term in places – helps.
“My ties to the UK are mostly because of my family,” she says. “What I am doing is not a permanent way of life, but for now it’s good.”
The web developer, Vancouver
‘I felt I had nothing to lose’
Nat Watson, 24, says he “just couldn’t take” living in the UK any more.
“I’ve lived all over: Brighton, Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, London, and visited many cities, and never enjoyed their vibe and never felt at home,” he says.
He moved to Vancouver, Canada last September, “settled and got a job really quickly”, and is being paid “more than I ever would be in the UK”.
Watson, a web developer, had been living in Wales and was feeling disillusioned with the job prospects as there is “little on offer in the tech sector” in Wales, he says. To make ends meet, he had to move back in with his parents.
“The last job I had there, I was making just over £1,000 a month,” he says. “I have been working in the industry for almost 10 years because I started very, very young. I know my stuff and I was almost insulted by the wages, but it was the only job available.
“I felt I had absolutely nothing to lose. I wanted somewhere with nature and things to do, and Vancouver just fits the bill.”
Watson also felt the “ever-rising cost of living and the ever-rising rightwing political extremism” made him want to leave.
“The quality of life is much better, people are friendlier, and I’ve been welcomed by everyone,” he says. “It’s cheaper for me to live in the middle of Vancouver than it is for me to live in Merthyr Tydfil.”
* Names have been changed
