Why don't a lot of English people live abroad?

[Booneymil]

Hi! I was just thinking about something. I am Irish originally. I have lived and worked in around seven different countries at my age. I am 40. I love moving around and living in different places. I have been working in england now for two years.

At my large workplace, there are a lot of English people and a lot foreign people working there. So we have people from Spain, Poland, Italy, Australia, and Lithuania working there. Every one of the foreign people there have lived all over the world. I was chatting to the lithuanian woman, she has lived in Indonesia, in Sweden, Switzerland and in Italy.

I was chatting to the Spanish woman - she has lived in Italy, Spain, Germany and Norway. She told me she was from a wealthy family in spain so she had no need to move, she just had a desire to see the rest of the world. I was the same, I always wanted to see more of the world.

The English people in my workplace, there are about thirty of them.

Not one of them has ever lived abroad. A lot of them are old enough that they could have moved around the EU before Brexit happened. But they didnt.

I was thinking about it. Why? Why is it so different in England.

It is a generalisation you made there OP.
And my own anecdotal evidence: My British DH and also at least 70% of his extended family have lived/worked in various other countries all over the world over the years. Mainly driven by good work contracts in different industries. Only 2 of those countries have English language as the main language and none of these people can speak any other language fluently.
Interestingly, only 1 family member settled in another (non-English speaking) country. All the others preferred UK as their home.
I have quite a lot of British friends who have lived in other countries. Again, primarily to do with work.
But the vast majority never really emigrate for good. The reality is that all these people I know have a very good standard of living in the UK so, apart from weather there isn't necessarily a desire to live anywhere else for good.

It's interesting how much we are influenced by our culture isn't it!

Because in my culture, it was normal to move all over the world.

I came to England and I was a bit shocked at all the people who had never left their country. I was a bit sad that they had seen so little of the world. There definitely seems to be a bit of mindset in England to just stay here. And they were probably shocked at how i lived my life

We definitely get influenced a lot by the culture around us

I think your sample is the problem OP 😂
Poor experimental design, if you will.

Any foreigners that you meet in the UK will, by definition, have lived in more than one country.

If you were in, say, Spain, I’d bet that many of the Spanish people who live there won’t have lived anywhere else. Any English person you meet there will obviously have lived abroad.

You can still see the world without living overseas.
edit typo

Maybe the ones who have chosen to work abroad, have also chosen not to move back - We've been away for a long time and I fear the reverse culture shock (coming back) would not be pleasant.

No that's not correct.

I have lived in Spain.

I remember the workplace that I was working in there.

All the Spanish people that I worked with there, HAD all lived abroad.

I remember one spanish woman had worked in Ireland for two years, then came back to Spain.

Another one had worked in Germany. Another Spanish woman had worked in Italy.

Because in my culture, it was normal to move all over the world.

I’m Irish like you by the way, and the majority of Irish people have not lived all over the world.

I haven't lived abroad myself but more than half of my friends and family have so I don't think your experience is indicative of a whole nation.

Perhaps they meant for a few months as part of student holidays? Or else it was a very unrepresentative sample.

Theres a selection bias going on as well. By definition the people from other countries you work with (and yourself) are people who have chosen to work and live abroad. So it is more likely they would have been to multiple countries. If you went and worked in a town in Poland you would find Polish people who had never left the country. But none of the Polish people you meet working in England are going to be people who choose to stay in Poland.

I think it may still be that the UK has less immigration than some other countries. But your data sample is skewed.

We do, but it goes against the little Englander stereotype that many people are so fond of.

I disagree. Most people that I went to school and University with in Ireland, have all moved abroad to work for some years of their lives.

All of my irish cousins moved abroad to work too. Some of them have moved back now.

I look at people that i went to School with in Ireland, on instagram.

They are now in Dubai, England, Scotland, Wales, Prague, australia, canada, Belgium They are working all over the world

famiky also plays a part: my dad lived in uk, states, Germany and Mexico and my mum in uk, Germany and Aden. My paternal grandfather lived and worked in UK, Colombia, UK. Canada and South Africa and had cousins who emigrated to Australia so moving countries was considered quite normal in my family.

I already wrote that when I worked in Spain, the Spanish people that I worked with HAD all lived in other countries

No the Spanish woman had lived in Ireland for two years. She worked for a large company in Dublin.

Why would it be an unrepresentative example? Lots of spanish people work abroad.

There is a Spanish woman in my workplace in England now. She told me that before she came here, she lived and worked in Ireland for a year.

I think it's a cultural thing?

My siblings have lived abroad but our parents are immigrants so it's quite normal in our world. I know quite a few younger people who have gone recently though so it might become more popular.

This is such a good thinker op. Yes I too have realised that when in Europe, people really do move around more. Way more adventurous than us.
Maybe its because this is a country that so many aspire to live in that we natives are less likely to leave, unless its for a hot place (dubai, aus , spain). Same as the USA, plenty of people have never left even for holidays.

Have you actually looked at data on this OP? I haven't doubled checked these figures but a quick search found:

Ireland (15%), Portugal (25%), and Scotland stand out with the largest % of their populations living abroad.
The UK and Italy are in the middle range (8–10%).
France and Spain have relatively low levels (~4–6%).
Poland is high (~12%), reflecting significant recent emigration within the EU.

A large proportion of the 5m English living abroad, live in Australia, USA and Canada, suggesting language is a big factor.
Australia: ~1.3 million
USA: ~750,000
Canada: ~600,000+
Spain: ~300,000–700,000 (varies by estimate)
Other popular countries include France, Germany, New Zealand, South Africa, UAE, and among EU nations

I have an irish parent & lots of family & the majority of my cousins haven't worked abroad but they have good jobs.

I think jobs do drive a lot of it.

Yes, lots of Spanish and Irish people work abroad for extended periods (years). But not the majority as you seem to be implying. Not even close.

Yes but your earlier post said

"I only speak English and I have worked in Spain, Italy, Thailand and Singapore.

There are a lot of English speaking jobs out there"

The place you worked in was English speaking, so will have attracted a certain type of Spanish employee. I've worked in an English speaking workplace in the Netherlands and the Dutch people working there were more likely to have worked abroad than the Dutch population generally (Dutch people can be very local thinking as a rule but much less so in an international org)

I do think Spain has a much higher proportion of young people working abroad. But an English speaking office will have more of those anyway.

It's very normal for people in mainland Europe to live & work in other countries.

I would think the majority of English expats are not in Europe but further afield.

They do. I've worked in France, Italy, USA. DSiL and BiL live and work in Canada, DS and BiL lived and worked in Japan for many years. BiLs brothers in Japan and USA. DH has never lived abroad but had work stints all over from India to Australia. DS works in USA now. Cousin works in Germany. Uncle worked in Germany for years. Another cousin is moving to France.

That's just my immediate family. We're not unusual. If I chat to neighbours, many of their children work abroad - Bulgaria, Switzerland, Middle East. That's just in my street.

A large proportion of the 5m English living abroad, live in Australia, USA and Canada,

Interesting