Poland has quietly climbed into the top 10 destinations for British migrants, with the number of UK citizens living there more than quadrupling over the past decade, according to new UN data
from 2024.
Back in 2015, only around 41,000 Britons called Poland home. Fast forward to last year, and that number had jumped to nearly 185,000. The shift puts Poland in seventh place among the most popular destinations for Brits moving abroad.
Australia still holds the crown, attracting more than 1.1 million UK expats—about 23% of all Brits who leave the country. The US comes next with nearly 900,000, followed by Canada with over 400,000.
So why are so many leaving the UK? Lower living costs and warmer weather remain big pull factors, the report suggests. But experts say there’s more to it, especially since Brexit reshaped the migration landscape.
“Relocating can be daunting, especially after Brexit,” said Cameron Hamilton of 5 Real Estate, the agency behind the study. “Australia, the US, and Canada will always be popular thanks to language, lifestyle, and higher wages. But we’re seeing a clear rise in European choices—particularly Eastern Europe.”
Hamilton added a note of caution, though: some of the growth in countries like Poland and Romania might not be fresh migration at all. Instead, it could be people who originally came to the UK from those countries, lived there for a while, and are now heading back home with UK citizenship.
Still, the trend is striking—Brits are spreading out more widely across the globe, and Poland’s fast-growing community is proof of that shift.
Leading Destinations for British Migrants in 2024
- Australia
- Canada
- United States
- Spain
- Ireland
- New Zealand
- Poland
- France
- Thailand
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Channel Islands
- Switzerland
- Malta
- Romania
- South Africa
- Bangladesh
- Turkey
- Cyprus
- Isle of Man
Photo by Emptywords, Wikimedia commons.