Among UK adults who never lived abroad, 34% believe their career
prospects would have been better had they spent time overseas, according
to a 2012 British Council / Populus poll of 2,114 UK adults — rising to
54% among under-25s. That figure is the dominant rate in this entry.
On the action side, the Currencies Direct British Expat Report 2024, based
on a Censuswide survey of 500 British citizens living abroad, asked
directly about regret: 6% said they regret the decision; 37% rarely
regret it and 38% never do. A smaller survey by Best Places in the World
to Retire of 389 US and Canadian retirees in Central America found
just 3% wouldn’t or probably wouldn’t move abroad again. Both figures
represent direct or near-direct regret measures — a substantial
improvement over the satisfaction-inverted proxies that previously anchored
this entry. The inaction-side 34% is a career-opportunity counterfactual,
not a direct relocation-regret question, but it at least addresses the same
life decision (living abroad) rather than the vacationer travel regret that
previously anchored this side. Roese and Summerville (2005) meta-analyzed
11 regret-ranking datasets and found that leisure — the domain encompassing
travel and relocation — accounts for only 2.5% of all lifetime regrets,
far behind education (32.2%), career (22.3%), and romance (14.8%).
Relocation regret, in other words, is real but relatively rare as a
top-of-mind life regret.
The 28-point gap is directionally consistent with the Gilovich-Medvec
temporal pattern: in long-term retrospection, inaction regret tends to
outweigh action regret because unchosen paths accumulate imagined upside
while the anxieties that blocked the decision fade. The principal caveat is
that the two sides still measure different constructs (direct regret vs.
career-opportunity counterfactual) in different populations (British expats
vs. UK non-movers in 2012). Survivorship bias inflates the action-side
figure: expats who returned home disappointed are absent from the sample.
The sponsor of the action-side survey (Currencies Direct, a foreign-exchange
company) has a commercial interest in framing expat life positively.
No large-sample survey was found that directly asks non-movers “do you
regret not moving abroad?” The directional finding — more people regret not
going than regret going — is consistent with the broader regret literature,
and both measures now at least address the same life decision rather than
comparing expat satisfaction with vacation travel regret.
Sources: action
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
[1]Currencies Direct (survey conducted by Censuswide) — British Expat Report 2024
Primary study
6% of British expats say they regret their decision to move abroad
Excerpt
“"38% of British expats say they never regret moving abroad and a further 37% say they rarely regret moving. Just 6% say that they do regret their decision."
”
Source data from
2024-10-09
Accessed
2026-04-27
Calculation
Currencies Direct commissioned Censuswide to survey 500 British citizens living abroad as part of the British Expat Report 2024. The question asked directly about regret frequency. 38% said they never regret moving, 37% rarely regret, and only 6% said they regret the decision. This is a direct regret measure, not a satisfaction-inverted proxy. The remaining ~19% presumably fall in intermediate categories (e.g. sometimes regret). The sample is limited to British expats, which skews toward Western, English-speaking, relatively affluent movers. The sponsor (Currencies Direct) is a foreign-exchange transfer company with a commercial interest in framing expat life positively.
[2]Next Avenue (reporting Best Places in the World to Retire survey) — What Expat Retirees Say About Retiring Abroad
Reference source
79% of expat retirees would do it all over again; only 3% wouldn't or probably wouldn't
Excerpt
“"Of the former Americans surveyed, 79 percent said they would do it all over again, and another 12 percent said they probably would; 3 percent either wouldn't or probably wouldn't."
”
Source data from
2015-09-30
Accessed
2026-04-27
Calculation
Best Places in the World to Retire polled 389 US and Canadian expat retirees living in Belize, Nicaragua, and Panama. Only 3% said they wouldn't or probably wouldn't move abroad again -- a figure broadly consistent with the 6% direct-regret rate from the Currencies Direct survey. This sample is limited to retirees in three Central American countries who chose retirement-friendly destinations, so the low regret rate likely reflects selection bias toward satisfied movers.
Sources: inaction
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
[1]British Council (survey conducted by Populus) — 1 in 3 'would have a better job' if they'd lived abroad
Reference source
34% of UK adults who hadn't lived abroad believe their career prospects would have been improved if they had
Excerpt
“"79% of UK adults have not lived or studied abroad for 6 months or more. Of those, 34% believe their career prospects would have been improved if they had -- equating to 17 million people."
”
Source data from
2012-11-12
Accessed
2026-04-27
Calculation
Populus conducted an online poll of 2,114 UK adults between 5-7 October 2012 on behalf of the British Council. 79% had not lived or studied abroad for 6+ months. Of that 79%, 34% believed their career would have been better. This is a career-opportunity-regret proxy, not a direct relocation-regret measure: it asks about perceived career impact, not whether respondents regret the decision to stay. Respondents under 25 expressed the most regret, with 54% believing their lack of international experience held them back. No large-sample survey directly asking non-movers "do you regret not moving abroad?" was identified.
[2]Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin — What We Regret Most ... and Why↗ 12 other entries
Peer-reviewed
Education (32.2%), career (22.3%), and romance (14.8%) top lifetime regret domains; leisure accounts for 2.5%
Excerpt
“"People's biggest regrets are a reflection of where in life they see their largest opportunities; that is, where they see tangible prospects for change, growth, and renewal."
”
Source data from
2005-09-01
Accessed
2026-04-27
Calculation
Roese and Summerville (2005) meta-analyzed 11 regret-ranking datasets and found that education, career, and romance dominate lifetime regrets. The leisure domain (which would include travel and relocation) accounts for only 2.5% of all regrets mentioned. This contextualizes the inaction-side figure: even if 34% of non-movers believe their career suffered, relocation is rarely a top-of-mind lifetime regret compared to education and romance.
Caveats
The action-side figure (6% regret) comes from a direct regret question in the Currencies Direct / Censuswide British Expat Report 2024 (n=500), a substantial upgrade over the previous satisfaction-inverted proxy but still limited to British expats -- a Western, English-speaking, relatively affluent population. The sponsor (Currencies Direct) is a foreign-exchange transfer company with a commercial interest in framing expat life positively. Corroborating data from Best Places in the World to Retire (n=389 US/Canadian retirees in Central America) found only 3% wouldn't move abroad again, though that sample is further narrowed to retirees who chose retirement-friendly destinations. Survivorship bias affects both sources: expats who already returned home are absent from the samples. The inaction-side figure (34%) is a career-opportunity- regret proxy from a 2012 British Council / Populus poll (n=2,114 UK adults): it captures the belief that career prospects would have been better with international experience, not direct regret about the decision to stay. No large-sample survey was found that directly asks non-movers "do you regret not moving abroad?" The 28-point gap is more conservative than the previous 39-point gap and uses closer constructs, but the two sides still measure different things (direct regret vs. career-opportunity counterfactual). The directional finding (inaction regret exceeding action regret) is consistent with the Gilovich-Medvec temporal pattern observed across multiple independent datasets, and both figures now at least address the same life decision (relocating abroad) rather than comparing expat satisfaction with vacation travel regret.
