Alcohol and the expat community

[Rapphy]

Through various moves as a child and visiting family and friends all around the globe, one thing that has stood out to me is the consumption of alcohol in the expat community.

People seem to drink a LOT more than in the UK. Have people noticed this?

Yep, it’s my experience of ex pats in the gulf.

My take is that ex pats generally have fewer responsibilities (eg, they are unlikely to have elderly parents around, and might have more domestic help). Plus more money, often.

One reason it doesn’t appeal to me!

Nope. But we lived in KSA, so it was a case of get invited to an embassy event, make your own or get your passport out.

Most people did pack the alcohol (and pork) away when out of kingdom.

I lived abroad for many years - three separate countries - and I have never seen anyone drink as much as right here in the UK. I was genuinely shocked by the quantity and level of alcohol abuse that was/is so apparent here.

However, as @Violettaa notes, if you're living as an expat you quite often have more disposable income and help with babysitting, so if you're inclined to go out and drink a lot it's probably a lot easier for you to do so.

Ex pats in Spain do drink a fair amount IME.

I live in Spain and many of the foreigners here drink a lot, and every day. It’s probably because the price of alcohol is ridiculously cheap, both in bars and supermarkets compared to UK prices.
I’ve previously done overseas military tours, and drinking was very much a part of socialising. We made a conscious decision not to go down that route during our retirement, and are now practically tee-total. I prefer a coffee, and fortunately it’s also very cheap in the cafés ☕️ 😄

Definitely true of HK but some of those factors are demographic rather than specifically expat related. Because of the visa rules, expats tend to be concentrated into a few professions - there are a lot of teachers in their mid to late twenties. They tend to be single/ child free and are paid pretty well and work much shorter hours than uk teachers. They live in teacher ghettos ( not really but there are places where they tend to cluster and they tend to be quite social places with a lot of bars etc) They have the time and funds to party pretty hard and a lot of them do. The other ( larger) group are people working in law and finance and increasingly, fintech. They span all ages but are extremely well paid. They would probably be drinking a fair bit in the UK as well. Also just generally really quiet and unsociable people probably wouldn’t move to HK in the first place as the constant noise would do their heads in.

Some factors are also HK specific and exacerbate the demographic factors.

• HK is compact and taxis are cheap and plentiful, and public transport is cheap and runs late. A lot of wealthier expats also have their own drivers. Conversely parking is expensive and not that plentiful. No one ever needs to be a designated driver and often it’s actually easier to get a taxi than drive.
• most expat families have live in childcare so you can always go out and don’t have to rush off from work for nursery or because your nanny is about to clock off. Never have to get a babysitter. When we were there we’d go out at least one evening a week, even when the dc were babies.
• the settings you spend time in tend to be more sociable- for example a lot of kids sport takes place late afternoon/early evening in the members clubs which have bars and restaurants so you’d stay for dinner and the parents would have a glass of wine together. Now my dc play rugby on a freezing field without even a coffee van - sad times! 🤣.

We lived in Asia and yes it was pretty boozy. Loads of help in the home, drivers on call, cheap food and drink all made it very easy. But I also see huge amounts of alcohol consumption back here in rural England and I don’t know how they manage the school run the next morning!

Yes it's more visible as it tends to be more sociable and in the open but in the UK people drink a lot at home. Behind closed doors, often alone, everyday and a lot. What I noticed was how much networking expats have to do, it's constant, involves drinking and leaving children with the nannny. The drink didn't bother me as much as the networking. Having a job, doing the job and going home to enjoy your family in a new more exciting location is not enough, from day one expats are networking for the next gig and this always involves a lot of drink. Never seen as many neglected children as I saw as an expat life, left with nannies all the time. So it's not really more carefree lifestyle with less responsibility that fuels the drinking , but fear of having to return home if they don't secure the next gig.