Working abroad is something many people want to do but very few achieve. 

We could spend all day debating the exact definition of an expatriate as opposed to an economic immigrant and not get much done.

A discussion of exactly that in «Routed», an online publication, goes even further, maintaining that expatriate has a more colonial bent, tracing the origins of the more elegant of the two terms by indicating it once referred to officers, notably British, stationed temporarily in places like India before returning to their home country.

More recently, and closer to home, Expats, a dramatic American television series based on a 2016 novel by Janice Y.K. Lee provided a picture of the affluent, transitory lives of the expatriate community living in Hong Kong.

Dramatic Change

In truth, the middle of the 20th century saw dramatic changes in composition, numbers, and flows. Many US citizens, fresh college graduates, moved to Europe to work for the government in a post-war period marked by the creation of the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and other international institutions.

In addition, the rise of global consumer goods franchises in the wake of World War II also led to line managers being cheerfully sent off for multi-year shifts around the world before returning to headquarters well-versed in the intricacies of managing an international business.

Distant Outpost

Banking and finance experienced an element of that, although much of the movement was limited between major financial centers and not far-flung outposts in the middle of nowhere.

But despite all the movement, a recent Daily Data Insights graph that the vast majority of people remain and live in the country that which they were born.

According to them, 96 percent of the world’s population hasn’t budged, even though the absolute number of international migrants has risen sharply since 1990. The reason? Their numbers have been offset by population growth.

Different Pastures

But just because they don’t leave their home country, that also does not mean that they don’t have a strong desire to up sticks and head off to different pastures.

Data from global analytics and advisory firm Gallup released in late October shows that the desire to up and go remains at a record high, except in much of Asia.

Everyone Wants Out

Sub-Saharan Africa shows the highest increase with 37 percent of the population wanting to leave, up from 29 percent a decade ago. That is followed by Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa.

But the so-called industrialized world doesn’t fare much better. In the European Union, even though the rate has remained stable over the past decade, 1-in-5 people are unhappy with their life in their home country.

North American Increase

For its part, The US and Canada show a dramatic increase, with the rate of those dissatisfied with where they were rising to 18 percent in 2023 from 11 percent in 2011.

«It’s important to note that Gallup has found that the percentage of people worldwide who have plans to move is much lower than the percentage who would like to move. Desire to migrate is not the same as intent to move. Not everyone who wants to move can move, or ever will,» Gallup indicated.

Secular Truisms

That is an important point. Even though the composition and the flow of expatriates and economic migrants are likely to change substantially as we head into the 2030s, there are a few secular truisms that are likely to remain in place.

That expat banker working in a financial hub like Hong Kong or Singapore is always going to be a bit of an outlier.