An advantage of glancing at a few French news sources each morning is that sometimes you are directed to an interesting story from a newspaper or magazine from elsewhere in the world. Such was the case when I saw in the Courrier International a story with the title that I used for today’s blog post. The original text that appeared in The Economist was actually labeled “Why Europe is a Magnet for more Americans” with a subtitle addressing the growing number of people “seeking to escape violence and political strife in the United States”. Although this didn’t focus solely on France, I still wanted to see what was drawing our fellow citizens to this continent.

The article examined the years from 2013 to 2022 and noted the following trends regarding the number of Americans living in these countries:

• Netherlands—an increase from 15,500 to 24,000
• Portugal—tripling to almost 10,000
• Spain—a rise from 20,000 to 34,000
• France—stable at 31,000
• Germany and the Nordic countries—stable as well

A series of Gallup polls shows that prior to 2016 about 11% of US citizens wanted to move permanently to another country; by 2018 that was up to 16% and in 2022 slightly higher at 17%. Recently the most often cited reason for wanting to move was despair at where they felt that the United States is heading.

What is “pushing” people away from America? Political divisiveness, overt racism, and widespread violence. In March 2023 the Kaiser Family Foundation released their survey results that about 19% of Americans have had a family member killed by a gun. One family with experience of having a cross burned in their front yard in Virginia now lives in Portugal where they say that racism does exist but they are no longer concerned about violence.

What is “pulling” people towards Europe? The work/life balance. Americans are on the job for 1,811 hours per year while in Europe, on average, it’s 1,571. In the Netherlands it’s also the work itself where online job ads require English almost as frequently as they require Dutch. In addition, once employers recruit those skilled foreign workers they can exempt 30% of their income from taxes. In Portugal you can obtain a residential visa if you can prove an income of 1,100 € per month and there’s a 10% flat tax on your investment and pension income. In Spain there’s a flat tax of 24% for income earned within the country. Visas for “digital nomads” have become popular in several countries after working from home proved effective during the pandemic. 

Others are attracted to universal health care that’s available in Europe. If you live in France you are required to have health insurance. A visit to the family doctor costs 26.50 € and the government refunds 70% of that directly into your bank account within a week. Our top-up insurance covers any excess charges that we might encounter in a hospital stay and for that we pay 24 € per person per month. Anyone with a very low income or who has a chronic disease such as cancer or diabetes is covered at 100%. There are no concerns about going bankrupt while trying to pay for health care.

The article concludes that for many, the attraction for Europe comes simply from having worked and/or traveled here and fallen in love with what they found. In our case there was a definite “pull” towards France. We’d been coming here on vacation for 25 years so retiring in this country just seemed logical. Healthcare is affordable, the cost-of-living in Carcassonne is reasonable, amenities are within walking distance, local and long distance bus and train transportation is excellent, and there is a sense of solidarity in our community. In other words, the quality of life is exactly what we were seeking.

Please note: All of the statistics above come directly from the article in The Economist, a source that I trust, so I have not confirmed them elsewhere. If you too are being “pulled” to Europe please verify your status with the country involved.

Photo notes: That’s the palace of Versailles across the top of today’s post and in the first paragraph is the abbey of Fontevraud. Thanks, Olivier, for your “quality of life” photo from the beach at Collioure.