High numbers of young British people are leaving the UK to live in Australia, attracted by better lifestyle and work opportunities, escalating fears of a national “brain drain“.
In 2024-25, 40,000 people migrated to Australia from the UK – a 26 per cent rise in arrivals compared with the pre-pandemic average, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports.
It attributes this sharp increase to young workers on temporary visas, with the number of 18- to 35-year-olds on “Working Holiday Maker” visas more than doubling from 38,177 in 2022-23 to 79,412 in 2024-25, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Australia’s better work-life balance is one of the main draws, with higher average wages, a standard 38-hour work week and an outdoor-focused culture. Young people who have made the move also cite the leisure opportunities and high-quality food and drink.
Work-life balance
Phoebe Stanley, 30, a conveyancer from Northampton, took the leap in November 2024 and now lives in Melbourne. She says she needed a change from the UK. “The political climate had been getting worse and worse for years, and I just felt like I had squeezed everything out of the UK that was there for me.”
Her work-life balance is “so much healthier” than it was in the UK, she says. The Australian working culture is “much more relaxed” and “companies appreciate the importance of flexible working”.
Australia is one of the top destinations for British medics, adding pressure to an already stretched NHS. The General Medical Council reported that 2,770 medics requested the paperwork needed to start a job there last year.
Kathryn Marszalek, senior fellow at the Nuffield Trust, says one of the main reasons behind this trend is burn-out. “Growing workloads and patient demands, staff shortages and poor work-life balance are all major factors contributing to people leaving the NHS, whether that’s to go work overseas or leave medicine or nursing entirely,” she says.
Higher disposable income
The UK minimum wage is £12.71 per hour, compared with A$26.44 (£19.62) per hour in Australia. The median annual salary for full-time employees in the UK is £39,863, according to the ONS, compared with A$90,532 (£67,155) in Australia.
While Stanley’s profession doesn’t necessarily pay more in Australia, she says the affordable lifestyle in Melbourne leaves her with more disposable income.
In the most recent comparison of pay for resident doctors, published by the British Medical Association (BMA) in November 2024, a second-year registrar in England was on £50,832, while their equivalent in Australia was on £67,879, a 34 per cent increase.
Dr Shivam Sharma, deputy chair of the resident doctors committee at the BMA, said in a statement that it was “sad…but hardly surprising” that resident doctors have been looking abroad to continue their careers.
“Finishing potentially six years of medical school with over £100,000 of student debt and looking at a pay packet a fifth lower than it would have been two decades ago, some will draw the obvious conclusion: it is not worth it anymore,” he said. “A registrar in Australia could earn significantly more than their equivalent here with better working conditions.”
Young British workers who live in Australia praise the outdoor culture and say they have more disposable income for road trips and weekend plans (Photo: Tourism Western Australia)Better working conditions
Marszalek says that issues raised during recent resident doctors’ strikes – which ended in late June after a deal was agreed – include not only pay but also “training and career progression“.
She said that the government’s “hopefully imminent” 10-year NHS workforce plan was looking at “improving working conditions, enabling flexible working for medics, and supporting their wellbeing”.
“I can imagine these are all factors that will contribute to someone deciding that prospects abroad look a bit sunnier.”
She said that the importance of good working conditions was something “I think we intuitively know, but can sometimes feel very difficult in an NHS that is really stretched and doing its utmost to meet the needs of its patients”.
“I think sometimes the needs of its employees can be forgotten,” she added.
Stanley said that another positive in Australia was that it is a legal requirement for companies to pay 12 per cent in superannuation, or pension, on top of your ordinary salary – offering more reassurance for the future.
NHS resident doctors protesting outside Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary in April. Australia is one of the top destinations for British medics (Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA)Improved quality of life
“My lifestyle is so different here to what it was in the UK,” Stanley said. “Going out to eat doesn’t cost a fortune and the food standard is so much higher. I spend my weekends at wineries, on the beach and going on road trips.”
Stanley has several friends from the UK who have made a similar move and have embraced the Australian way of life – and she doesn’t see herself moving back.
“I won’t necessarily stay here for ever, as who knows what will happen in the future, but I don’t see myself ever returning to the UK,” she adds. “I think Melbourne will always be my base. I am healthier than I have ever been, and generally just a lot happier here.”
The exodus of young professionals, fuelled by the cost of living crisis, is creating concerns about a UK brain drain that could further damage the economy.
The Nuffield Trust has proposed a loans forgiveness scheme in exchange for years of service, since medical students end up with high-interest rate loans due to the length of their training. “We’re thinking about limiting student debt repayment to, say, 10 years to help attract new people into the system, and to help retain staff once they enter into the system and they start training,” Marszalek says.
What is clear is that Andy Burnham and his new Government have a lot of work to do if they want to convince young people to remain in the UK or return instead of staying in Australia.
Hence then, the article about four reasons to leave the uk for australia from people who did it was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Four reasons to leave the UK for Australia, from people who did it )
Also on site :
- Who Wins 'The Challenge: Cutthroat'? Season 42 Spoilers, Eliminations, Disqualifications and Finalists
- Piramal Pharma Solutions agrandit son site de production d'API peptidiques avec l'ajout d'une unité de séchage par atomisation de pointe
- Miles de migrantes llegaron a Ceuta en busca de una vida mejor. Sus familias esperan confirmación de que siguen con vida