British people 'aspire to retire abroad'

Friday February 1st , 2008

Retiring abroad is becoming an increasingly popular ambition among Britons, new research has found.

According to Scottish Widows, one-third of people in the UK want to move overseas after they have retired.

Emigrating was found to be a common aspiration among both men and women, as 56 per cent of male respondents said they wanted to leave the country.

This places them just ahead of the 54 per cent of women who expressed a similar desire.

However, other demographic factors such as wealth were found to play a bigger role in influencing people's ambitions, as most of those who said they wanted to relocate were high earners.

Specifically, two-thirds of people on a salary of more than £40,000 a year stated that they were considering spending their post-working years out of the UK.

The Office for National Statistics recently revealed that during 2006, more than 200,000 UK citizens chose to leave the country and live abroad.

Spain was found to be one of the most popular destinations among those opting to leave Britain permanently.