Nearly half of China’s super-rich want to emigrate within five years

By James Hockaday, September 16, 2014

Results from a survey led by Barclays show that 47 per cent of China’s rich said that they’d like to move to another country within the next five years, compared to the global average of 29 per cent.

2,000 people from 17 countries, all with a total net worth of US$1.5 million, were questioned in the survey.

Following China in second place was Singapore some distance away at 23 per cent, followed by Great Britain at 20 per cent. India and USA had the lowest score with only 5 and 6 per cent of respondents saying they’d like to move to another country.

The main reasons the Chinese respondents gave for wanting to relocate are better educational and employment opportunities for children (78 per cent), economic security and desirable climate (73 per cent) and better health care and social services (18 per cent).

The Chinese respondents who said they would like to leave chose Hong Kong as their most desired destination (30 per cent), the second most popular choice being Canada at 23 per cent.

Although some have objected to the survey's finding since Hong Kong has been a part of the PRC's sovereign territory since retrocession in 1997, the territory retains it's own separate legal framework, political environment, social services and education system entirely different from those in the mainland. As such, the move to the SAR represents a shift with far more implications than mere internal migration between mainland municipalities. China's situation is unique and not every country has an SAR like Hong Kong on its shores, but for the purpose of making cross-national comparisons the move to Hong Kong fulfills the same desires as relocation to another country entirely, and therefore can be considered as such.

Whether or not this will have a negative impact on China’s economic integrity is unclear. 30 per cent of Singapore’s high net worth individuals told Barclays that they wanted to move to China, and as one of the world’s most rapidly growing economies China shouldn't be too worried about a drain of wealth from its borders.

With wealth, naturally, comes mobility. As James Faulconbridge, an expert on globalization and mobility at Lancaster University, explains "the wealthy have a choice of going anywhere in the world and they go where they can get professional services, and access to everything from property through to arts and entertainment.”