We’ve often noted how many Brits seem anxious to put Blighty behind them. Now yet another YouGov survey has recorded that “two people in five are either planning to move abroad or have seriously considered doing so”. There’s more to this than a dislike of filthy hospitals, lousy schools and violent streets. As one Brit, recently arrived here with wife and two young kids and determined to stay, put it to me, “that’s not the future I want for my children”. He’d been looking at official population forecasts for the UK.

It’s easy to understand his thinking. According to official figures, by 2051 the UK – almost three times smaller than France – will have a population of 75 million. Already the south-east of England is more densely populated than India or China. The respective figures for number of inhabitants per square kilometre are 419, 329 and 137; the European average is 117 and that for France 109. Many experts argue that life in a crowded island will entail huge pressure on infrastructure and public services and inevitable social tensions. It’s hard not to think of accounts of those laboratory rats who forced into crowded cages quickly become stressed and violent. 

From Riviera Reporter Issue 125: Feb/March 2008 

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