There's a common talking point in Europe, especially in Britain, about ditching their "beloved" native lands... social democracy has run its course, immigration/heavy taxes/covid lockdowns too much... Bitches, I'm out.
Turns out, when Undisc's future employees try to get some numbers on this, the anecdotes weeeeere cooorrect.
"Politicians focus on how many people migrate to their country. Less noticed is that people are leaving in record numbers.""Politicians focus on how many people migrate to their country. Less noticed is that people are leaving in record numbers."
Governments do a poor job of tracking emigrants. Britain long had no exit checks. Lacking a proper exit system, America relies on a mixture of tax data, surveys and indirect methods. But the quality of the figures has improved enough to let The Economist produce the first broad measure of gross emigration from the West.
most places saw increases. In the third quarter of 2025 departures from Canada were 34% higher than six years before. New Zealand’s emigration in 2025 was 29% above 2019. In Sweden it was more than 60% higher. Italy’s statistics office recently noted a “boom in emigration”. Iceland’s reported the highest level on record.
Some of these numbers are boosted, too:
The surge in emigration is, in part, the unwinding of an immigration boom in 2022 and 2023, when Western countries admitted legions of newcomers. Many of them never intended to stay for ever. Students graduate. Temporary workers go home. Donald Trump’s mass deportations may provoke up to 1m to leave in 2026, the Brookings data suggest, in addition to the 2m or so that would normally be expected. All these people show up as emigrants.
Kind of misleading not to show us the base rate... (=very few people move every year, #835156, #752441)
The Economist writers point to three causes:
- WFH revolution: The pandemic "normalised geographical arbitrage."
- Taxes: Western governments are increasingly turning into expropriating thugs, especially at the top, more mobile/wealth end.
- Politics: grass is greener elsewhere; you just hate your own bad dude more.
The most reassuring thing in this article is this:
"Westerners of all political persuasions that politics is broken. Surveys show declining faith in democracy. A paper published last year by Assaf Razin of Tel Aviv University finds convincing evidence that “democratic decline tends to increase emigration”.""Westerners of all political persuasions that politics is broken. Surveys show declining faith in democracy. A paper published last year by Assaf Razin of Tel Aviv University finds convincing evidence that “democratic decline tends to increase emigration”."
I'm sure Bitcoin somehow fixes this.
archive: https://archive.md/0bEsn
That would be great news if we were talking about individuals seeking sovereignty, but it's just fiat-rich supporters switching casinos to see if the house takes fewer of their chips.
Can't blame them for that, eh
Those are huge increases in migration rates. It would be especially interesting to know where they're going.
Is it just reshuffling amongst Western nations?
Yeah, which countries are seeing an increase in migration from western countries? This would be a very interesting question to have answered.
My guesses: Dubai, Paraguay/Uruguay, Thailand, Brazil
Paraguai for sure, I hear that many individuals living here Brazil are moving there fiscal adress to avoid tax.
From X, not sure the quality of data source
Interesting... That's the contrary conclusion, that peeps are going to the West
rearranging deck chairs
https://twiiit.com/Market_Mind_/status/2040093215651717199
Dubai not so much lately
yes, I believe I said so.
Mostly so, I believe. Some Dubai as well, but I suspect that's coming to an end now
I want to know what they think "a proper exit system" is.
Exit is speech. Bitcoin makes exit easier so the people can speak more loudly.
Mostly I think people get stuck in algorithmic rumination loops and start to hate everything rather than accepting that nothing is permanent and that pendulums are always swinging to and fro. So short of persecution or towards a great opportunity I wouldn't suggest moving. Mind what you're looking at instead and notice if you're becoming a hater.
Don't mention the war.
China won the trade war.
USA responds with war crimes.
Don't mention the war!
There's actually a formal economics model for this. Charles Tiebout published it in 1956 -- the idea that when people can freely move between jurisdictions, they "vote with their feet" and that pressure forces local governments to compete on public goods. It was considered mostly theoretical for decades because the friction of moving was so high. Selling property, converting currencies, transferring retirement accounts, finding new banking relationships. All of that friction subsidized bad governance.
Bitcoin changes the Tiebout model from theory to practice. If your wealth isn't trapped in a local banking system or denominated in the currency your government prints, the cost of exit drops by an order of magnitude. You don't need to wire money through correspondent banks that might freeze the transfer. You don't lose 3-8% on forex conversion. Your savings don't get devalued by the country you're leaving as a parting gift.
The 34% increase in Canadian emigration and 60% in Sweden isn't surprising when you realize both countries dramatically increased capital gains taxes in the same period. The Tiebout prediction is that the jurisdictions with the lightest touch on mobile capital win the sorting game. Paraguay's 0% capital gains tax on foreign income isn't an accident, it's a bid.