British citizens flee the kingdom to Western Europe. Such trends have been observed before, but after the Brexit referendum, their number increased by 30%.
The publication “The Guardian” writes about this, citing data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, as well as Eurostat.
According to statistics, if in the period from 2008 to 2015, migration from the UK to the EU countries averaged 56,832 people, then from 2016 to 2018 it increased to 73,642 people. Moreover, studies show that the number of Britons who have received citizenship in one of the EU countries has grown by 500%. In Germany, this figure has generally reached 2000%.
“This increase in numbers is justified in an environment where the country is expected to suffer from a major economic or political crisis,” said Daniel Auer, co-author of the study at the University of Oxford and the Berlin Center for Social Sciences.
Daniel Tetlow, another study participant, says the UK citizenship situation in the EU is “further evidence that more people are making decisions to emigrate to protect themselves from some of the most negative consequences of Brexit on their lives.”
However, Britain’s bleak prospects are not the only thing that forced the country’s citizens to pack their bags and travel to the continent. The agreement concluded between London and Brussels, although it enshrines the rights of residence, work and social rights of EU citizens in the UK, does not provide for the opposite. That is, under Brexit, the British are deprived of the possibility of employment, residence and even free movement in the EU.