Switzerland overtakes UK as main destination for 60,000 immigrants as Portugal brain drain continues

The hangover from Brexit and a flagging UK economy, coupled with a stricter immigration policy, has resulted in Portuguese émigrés abandoning the country in favour of Switzerland and other EU countries reports Human Resources Com.

Around 60,000 Portuguese, many of them highly qualified, left Portugal in 2022 according to a report from the Emigration and Migrant Network which also states that around 60,000 left in 2021.
Regarding the UK, there was a fall of 40% in the number of Portuguese emigrating to work in UK cities, being overtaken by Switzerland, while France and Spain also are favoured destinations.
And according to the UN, there are currently 2.1 million Portuguese living and working overseas (meaning people born in Portugal and working overseas), occupying 26th place in the ranking of the countries with the most immigrants – a league table topped by India. (17.5 million)
In 2022, Switzerland was the main country of destination with close to 10,000 Portuguese, followed by Spain (8,272), and the UK (7,941), with Germany behind with 5,835. Holland (4,533), Luxembourg (3,633) and Belgium – all of which already have significant Portuguese communities – follow on in the ranking.
The report also shows that in 2022 the largest Portuguese expat community was in Luxembourg (93,678), followed by UK (268,00) and Switzerland (230,000).
But other European countries with smaller concentrations of Portuguese citizens have also seen a considerable uptick, with Norway (+36.1%), Sweden (+34.1%), Holland (+33.1%), and Switzerland (+29.6%). Outside Europe, Brazil continues to be a popular destination (+21.9%).
There are more men than women emigrating and most of them are young people of working age.

Image: Freepik: Oleksandr Ryzhk