Report highlights emigration from NI and Britain

More than 2,300 people emigrated from Northern Ireland last year, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research in the UK, as reported in the Belfast Telegraph. The report, 'Brits Abroad: Mapping the scale and nature of British emigration', found that 5.5 million people born in the UK are living abroad.

The most popular destinations and their corresponding number of resident UK natives are as follows:
Australia - 1,300,000
Spain - 761,000
United States - 678,000
Canada - 603,000
Republic of Ireland - 291,000
New Zealand - 215,000
South Africa - 212,000
France - 200,000

Interestingly, the report found that the number of UK citizens moving abroad permanently doubled between 2001 and 2005, from 53,000 to 107,000.

The newspaper report quoted Dr Patrick Fitzgerald, lecturer at the Centre for Migration Studies, Omagh, on the continuing phenomenon of emigration:

Our focus on inward migration has overshadowed continued emigration.

We are getting 'lifestyle' migration with people moving in significant levels for warmer weather, cheaper fuel and property, particularly in the Costas of Spain.

'Brain Drain' is a major issue. Students are still reliant on universities in Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Internal migration can lead to onward migration and a loss of skills to the Northern Ireland economy. People still need to leave Northern Ireland for educational economic and employment reasons, though perhaps not to the extent they did in the seventies and eighties.

The newspaper queried Queens University students on their feelings about whether they would like to emigrate; many replied that they would consider emigration, with several citing the fact that Northern Ireland is a small place and there would be more job opportunities elsewhere.

The Institute for Public Policy Research is calling for greater engagement with UK citizens abroad. In the Report’s Executive Summary, it concludes:

Given the importance of emigration from the UK, this report suggests that UK policymakers should pay more attention to the issue. The UK government should follow the lead of several other countries and engage more with its diaspora. Such engagement would allow the UK to harness the potential of Britons living abroad to promote trade and investment links, develop overseas knowledge networks, and act as cultural ambassadors. More should also be done to promote the political participation of Britons living abroad and to make the most of returning Britons.

Read the Belfast Telegraph Article.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2074006.ece

The Belfast Telegraph has a fascinating in-depth look at the issue in its “Brits Abroad” section.

Order “Brits Abroad: Mapping the scale and nature of British emigration” from the Institute for Public Policy Research. You may also download the Executive Summary from there.