Top destinations worldwide for British expats

The Guardian published a list last year for the top destinations for British expats worldwide (see the list below). But as the news clip from Sky News suggests not all destinations turn out to be paradise. Yet the Home office figures show that close to 4.7 million British subjects live outside of Britain with Australia and the United States making up more than a quarter.

Top 10 destinations for UK expats*

Australia 1,062,000 (251,000)

USA 829,000 (140,000)

Spain 808,000 (104,000)

Canada 608,000 (157,000)

Ireland 289,000 (126,000

France 253,000 (57,000)

New Zealand 248,000 (54,000)

South Africa 219,000 (38,000)

Germany 97,000 (39,000)

UAE 65,000 (680)

*Table shows numbers of expats in each country, and in brackets the number of pensioners

Source: IPPR, DWP.