Aside from the reality that it’s a city that purposefully and expertly caters to each and every outsourcable whim; the motivating spires of towering skycrapers; the security and low assault rate; the year-round sunshine; the beaches and five-star hotels; the Michelin-Starred dining circuit and explosion of the homegrown cuisine scene; the wild nightlife; the culture; the world-class events, concerts, comedy gigs, and so on; Theme parks and engaging family activities; the great outdoors, nature, desert adventures, cycle paths, alfresco exercise hubs, the hills of Hatta and desert stargazing; the lack of tax and support of the independent spirit; fast cars and exotic beach clubs; its central geographical location; tolerance and multiculturalism; record-breaking malls; quaint courtyards; employment opportunities and events with food.
It’s maybe not a surprise, however, that Dubai topped Remitly’s recent analytical poll of “The Most Popular Cities for Moving Abroad.”
And it didn’t just win the table; it rushed away with it, its foot solidly planted in the fast lane of Sheikh Zayed Road.
How is the ranking calculated?
The poll assigned appeal rankings to places based on Google searches in 164 countries across the world.
The Remitly team examined which destinations (countries and cities) showed the most often when users typed the query’move to [city]’ inside these 164 countries.
When they looked at the searches coming out of Australia using the keyword “move to…”, the top place that people in Australia searched for was Dubai. The majority of British citizens were the same; the top sought for “move to” city was Dubai. India, the United States, Sweden, Italy, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Suriname, amongst many others, have all identified Dubai as their top global hotspot for a future relocation.
It was also a landslip. Out of the 164 nations where data was gathered, 60 (about one-third) said that Dubai was their favourite expat destination. The next highest was Miami, which was chosen by 12 countries.
Shifting trends
According to Remitly, global migration has been steadily increasing over the last few decades, with “an estimated 281 million people living in a country other than their country of birth as of 2020 — 128 million more than in 1990, and an increase of 3.6% of the global population.”
We reported earlier this year that Dubai’s population ascended by more than 50,000 people in the first six months of 2023.
But where do people currently leaving in the UAE fancy moving to?
Singapore, it shows up. And it makes sense: scorching temperatures, plentiful career prospects, and easy access to foreign travel. However, those with itchiness feet should keep in mind that there is far less shawarma.
