Last year Rachel James quit her corporate job in London, packed a suitcase and booked a one-way ticket to Sydney, without a job lined up or a plan in place. "I went for a fresh start," says the 26-year-old from Surrey. "To take a risk and try something completely different.
With the worst case being there will always be a flight home if all fails." More than one in 10 UK university students are now planning to move abroad for better opportunities after they have graduated, up from 7.8% two years ago, according to a survey, external of 15,000 final year university students. Meanwhile, a study by the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) says that competition for graduate jobs in the UK was at a three-decade high. UK employers now receive 140 applications per graduate vacancy on average, an increase of 14% from 2025, and up from just 30 applications per vacancy 20 years ago, according to the ISE's report, external.
For young British adults going abroad, where are they heading? While there is no age-specific data for which countries people go to, Australia remains by far the most popular nation for British adults overall who move abroad, official figures show., external In addition to Australia's weather and use of the English language, another reason is its visa-friendly policy. Under its Working Holiday Maker programme,, external British passport holders between the ages of 18 and 35 can live in Australia for up to three years.
Rachel, who graduated from Loughborough University in 2022 with a degree in English, had been working for insurance giant PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK. She now has a job in marketing in Sydney for gym chain Fitness First. She says her annual salary has gone down from £42,000 to £37,000, while she now pays $AUS 2,000 (£1,000) a month to rent a two-bedroom apartment with a friend, similar to what she was paying in London.
Despite having less disposable income, she has no regrets. "The weather's beautiful, even in the winter, and the walks on my doorstep are unmatched. "People want to leave work at 5pm so they can go and do their hobbies - whether it's surfing, running, enjoying the sunset, a picnic or sunset yoga.
I didn't come with career progression as a focus - it's more about the different way of life." Around two-thirds of British nationals who emigrate are aged between 16 and 34, according to the most recent figures, external from the UK's Office for National Statistics. It said that 75,000 more people in that age bracket left the UK in 2025 than arrived. After Australia the next most popular destination for British adults is the US.
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