Why Europe is a magnet for more Americans
“The American". Rich, self-made and free of class prejudice, Newman moves to Paris for fun, only to be sucked into the intrigues of the French aristocracy. The template still describes one type of American expat: the well-off innocent who comes to Europe for amusement or edification.
Another sort, however, comes not to enjoy the old world but to escape the new one. “I didn’t know what would happen to me in France," said James Baldwin, a black writer, of his decision to emigrate in 1948, “but I knew what would happen to me in New York." More Americans are moving to Europe lately, and many are fleers rather than seekers. The statistics are messy: governments have difficulty keeping tabs on foreign residents.
But in some countries the trend is clear. In 2013-22 the number of Americans in the Netherlands increased from about 15,500 to 24,000; in Portugal it tripled to almost 10,000; and in Spain it rose from about 20,000 to nearly 34,000. In other places, such as France, Germany and the Nordic countries, the number grew moderately or held steady.
Britain thinks the number of resident Americans rose from 137,000 in 2013 to 166,000 in 2021 (the latest estimate). Meanwhile, more and more Americans say they want out of their own country. Few of those who vowed to leave if Donald Trump were elected in 2016 actually did so.
But Gallup, a pollster, found in 2018 that the share of Americans who said they would like to move permanently to another country had risen from 11% under Barack Obama to 16% under Mr Trump; by 2022 it was 17%, Joe Biden’s election notwithstanding. A survey by YouGov last year found that those considering emigration were mostly liberals. It is hardly surprising that conservatives are less likely to say they
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