Photo by Christoph Schulz on Unsplash
The impact of Brexit s one reason for “exodus” of entrepreneurs from the UK.
Businessmen and women who may be looking to start a new business or achieve growth targets in 2023 are increasingly looking to leave the UK, according to key new research.
As the cost of living pressure mounts, huge numbers are now setting their sights on the hyper-connected business hub of Dubai.
That is according to new research.
As a commerce, finance and tech hub, Dubai has most of what growing firms need to succeed.
Workers can also expect much more favourable living conditions too when compared with the UK. Unlike hefty homegrown tax bills, Dubai offers 0% personal and income taxes, a range of business tax exemptions, a growing economy, and a business environment that supports entrepreneurs.
New data comes from Housearch.com, a leading online property hub, and Numbeo, a data analytics company that studies the cost of living in different countries.
Housearch.com compared the cost of rent, groceries, transportation, and entertainment to find out whether the cost of living in Dubai is lower than in London (https://housearch.com/en/blog/post/cost-of-living-dubai-vs-london).
Numbeo, meanwhile, compared the costs of housing and accommodation in the two countries.
It found that renting an apartment in the Arab Emirates is 30% cheaper than in the UK.
Household bills in Dubai, meanwhile, are comparable to those in London. Water and electricity bills for two people in a one-bedroom apartment in London or Dubai will cost around $170 to $210 a month.
Fruit and vegetables in Dubai are either produced locally in vertical farms or imported from Egypt, Iran, or Saudi Arabia, and so are relatively cheap.
Public transportation in Dubai is also cheaper, according to the latest research. The UAE is the eighth-largest country in the world in terms of oil reserves, and the seventh in yearly extractions of oil. Petrol is cheap. Prices start at $0.88 per litre versus $2 in London while household bills in Dubai are comparable to those in London.
However, is not all entirely good news. Take, for example, the areas of phones, Internet and healthcare.
Phone services and the Internet are expensive in Dubai. In 2022, Cable.co.uk, a British web portal, rated countries according to the cost of mobile Internet. The UAE occupied 187th place in the rating with an average cost of $4.29 per gigabyte, and the UK made it to 59th place, with $0.79 per gigabyte.
When it comes to healthcare Dubai requires expats to obtain medical insurance. It is impossible to get a resident visa without insurance. The UK provides national healthcare. You can receive first aid, emergency care and basic treatment for free as a citizen, a tourist, or an expat.
Recent months have been dominated by headlines about top soccer stars being lured to the Middle East by huge salaries but, clearly, there is also another trend afoot.
This has seen Dubai increasingly becoming a major migration destination for high net worth individuals and especially young high earners from the UK.
Research shows that this applies both to wealthy Britons and rich foreigners with London increasingly losing its appeal.
It also reveals that during the period from 2017 to 2022 the UK has lost approximately 12,500 more high-net-worth individuals than it has gained through migration, and it is expected to lose another 3,200 millionaires to migration in 2023.
In 2022, over 557,000 individuals left the UK, a figure that has been on the rise over the past decade. This trend is especially pronounced among high-net-worth individuals, with estimates suggesting the UK will lose over 3,000 of such individuals this year, a number that’s doubled from the previous year.
On the other hand the UAE, particularly Dubai, has seen a spike in British expatriates. The combination of the rise of remote work, no income tax, low crime rate, and a better value-for-money in terms of cost of living has made cities like Dubai an attractive alternative.
Commenting on the findings, Andrew Horbury, Cavenwell Group Managing Director, told EU Political Report, “Dubai has historically attracted high net-worth individuals but heavy investment in infrastructure and connectivity, and very favourable business and tax rules mean that’s all changing. We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of start-up founders, small business owners, and even freelancers who are looking to relocate.”
