Britons wishing to emigrate increases two-fold

London, Aug 3 (UNI) The number of Britons aspiring to emigrate has doubled in the past three years, according to a survey published today.

Tempted by the promise of a better quality of life and sunnier skies, 13 per cent of people interviewed said they hoped to leave Britain for good ''in the near future''. A similar survey conducted in 2003 found that only 7 per cent of those questioned hoped to emigrate soon.

The latest poll, conducted by the research company ICM on behalf of the BBC, found that most people, 54 per cent of respondents, had considered emigrating at some point. Those who had thought about a new life abroad were more likely to come from the higher end of the social scale.

Official statistics also show that a record 359,000 people left Britain in 2004. The ICM poll shows that the largest attitude change has occurred among the youth. A quarter of those aged 18 to 25 said that they would go if they could, compared with only 12 per cent of the same age group three years ago.

The main reasons given for wanting to join the estimated nine million Britons across the globe were a desire for a better quality of life and good weather.

However, 24 per cent of the 1,002 people who had considered emigrating said that it was because Britain was too expensive.

Thirteen per cent said they wanted to go abroad for a new job and 12 per cent said they did not like what Britain had become.

A further 9 per cent cent said that they were keen to join family and friends abroad.

Danny Sriskandarajah, a migration expert at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said that Britons appeared to be leaving for positive reasons, in contrast to the picture that emerged from the institute's research in the 1970s and 80s. He said, ''The poll suggests people are not jumping ship, being pushed out by the bad quality of life here, but they are being lured away by life overseas.

''If it had been done 20 years ago, it would have been a different story. There was a lot of unemployment, many people didn't like life under Thatcher. But it seems now people have got a bit of mobility, a bit of a choice''.

The BBC poll shows, in order of popularity, Australia, Spain, Canada, New Zealand and the US were the most favoured destinations.

However, 18 per cent of people said that they would consider France, while 10 per cent said Italy.

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