Americans often complain about their country, but few leave here.
Our country is the No. 1 destination for immigrants worldwide, but we rank 26th in terms of people who permanently leave here, according to an analysis of United Nations data by the Washington Post published in January.
The United States receives three times as many immigrants compared to runners-up Germany and Saudia Arabia.
On the other hand, only one American leaves the United States for every six Indian citizens who leave India and every four Mexicans who leave Mexico.
The U.S. government does not keep a close count of Americans who have left the country. The U.S. State Department asks some expatriates to register, but it does not maintain an up-to-date list, according to reporting by the Washington Post.
The Federal Voting Assistance Program, which helps Americans living abroad to cast their ballot in elections, estimates about 4.8 million Americans are living abroad. Another estimate by the group American Citizens Abroad estimates the number at 3.9 million civilians and 1.2 million members of the military or working for other federal agencies.
The top destination for Americans is Mexico, but many of them are under the age of 18 and have parents who are Mexican. About one in six of those Mexican-born parents were deported, while the others have returned voluntarily.
This perspective comes from a study by researchers at the University of California-Davis, the University of Alberta in Canada, and a college in Mexico.
These young people who leave for Mexico with their parents are often called “accidental Americans” because they didn’t choose to be born here.
Other top destinations are Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, and Australia.
One noteworthy statistic that should be emphasized it that the United Nations Refugee Agency lists only 426 people who left the United States as political refugees in 2021. That’s minuscule compared to the 6.8 million people who fled Syria, 2.7 million from Afghanistan, and 2.4 million from South Sudan.
Unlike other countries, the people who leave the United States go everywhere. They don’t have a particular destination other than those mentioned earlier.
The broad range of where Americans move to is related to our diverse heritage and the variety of our ancestral homes.
In addition, Americans who have worked overseas for corporations, the Peace Corps, and federal agencies and served in the U.S. military have been exposed to innumerable landing spots.
If you are approaching retirement age or already retired, you have read stories about Americans who moved to Europe or the Caribbean, or elsewhere in search of a lower cost of living and a slower pace of life.
I know I have read profiles of couples who have moved to Costa Rica, Portugal, and Spain for a less expensive lifestyle.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the popularity of working from home led many workers to move out of expensive cities to less costly suburbs or even rural areas.
Some countries even offered long-term visas for remote workers.
Investopedia describes a digital nomad as a person who lives a nomadic lifestyle and uses technology to work remotely from outside their home country.
Digital nomad visas allow these individuals to legally live and work in another country. The visas are available to students and workers, although the costs and requirements tend to vary.
But temporarily working outside the United States is different from permanently leaving.
