Barbados a hit with British

Long a favourite for British visitors, Barbados is also the top spot for expatriates who choose to work and live in the English-speaking Caribbean.

This island is home to 27 000 British people, according to recent statistics from the Brits Abroad project of the Institute for Public Policy Research, a think tank based in London.

When this is combined with the British nationals and/or people born in Britain who are normally resident there but spend more than three months here, that number swells to 34 000 – over one-tenth of Barbados' resident population.

These figures are based on those who own or rent property on the island and do not include people who travel here frequently.

Gina Pitts, president of the British Women's Club, described Barbados as "very up and coming" with a quality of life that was comparable to life in Britain in contrast to the other islands. She added that while the British expatriate community integrated with Barbadians, it was still "very tight" and formed a support network for those who migrated here.

Brits Abroad data showed that Jamaica was the runner-up with 25 000 Britons (31 000 in all if part-time residents are also included), but of that number, 23 000 were retired, indicating they returned after a working life in Britain.

 

In contrast, only 4 933 Britons in Barbados were pensioners. Pitts noted that most of her 30-year-old club's members were women who had come here with their husbands, who were consultants attached to many of the large construction and other business projects on the island, including Cricket World Cup 2007 activity, construction of Hilton Barbados, and the merger between Barclays and CIBC to form FirstCaribbean, which attracted a large amount of human resources from Britain.

While Pitt said the make-up of the community was varied, she noted there were less single or professional women than men since it was not as easy for them to get jobs here.

Trinidad and Tobago was the next closest CARICOM island, with 13 000 Britons living there permanently or part-time. This was followed by The Bahamas with 5 200 permanent and part-time; Antigua and Barbuda with 3 500 permanent and part-time; and Grenada with 3 100 permanent and part-time British expatriates.

All other CARICOM members had fewer than 2 000 Britons living there permanently and part-time.

The Brits Abroad project is the first significant attempt to put a figure on the number of British citizens who live overseas. The study logged the total expatriate figure at 5.5 million, which rose to six million if those who live or work part of the year abroad are included. This represents about ten per cent of Britain's population.