Poll: 71% of German expatriates want to go back

The dream of a life abroad ends in disappointment for many German expatriates: According to a poll on our site, 68% of all German-speaking expatriates find their start abroad “more difficult than expected”, 71% want to go back to their home country one day.

The number of German expatriates continually increases: According to the statistical office of Germany, in 2006 more than 155.000 people left the country, the highest number since the beginning of the measurement in 1950 and an increase of 7% in comparison to 2005.

However, the reality abroad seldom meets expectations: According to a poll among 1200 German speaking users of our site, only 34% find their live abroad better than at home, and only 22% are “very happy” in their new home. Some of the biggest obstacles abroad are adopting to a new culture (85%), finding new friends (72%) and practical issues finding a job or an apartment or learning a new language. For a statistical overview of the poll results, please download the following PDF (in German): Umfrage Auswanderer 2007

At Just Landed, we’re working hard to ease this transition and help our users overcome the hurdles that go along with a move to a new country. As you might have noticed, all our country portals are divided in standard topics (such as jobs, housing, visas & permits or language), which reflect the most critical issues that our users have told us about when moving abroad. As always, we’re happy for any suggestion on subjects that we are still missing. If you would like to receive future press releases directly, please send us a mail so we can add you to our distribution list.