China: Expats and Millionaires Are Leaving

By Veronique de Rugy

Friday, September 01, 2023

 

Andrew Stuttaford had a post last night on international investors bailing out of Chinese securities.

 

This morning on Persuasion, Blake Stone-Banks has a piece about the expats also leaving China. The writer, one of those expats who left in 2022, had moved to China as a student in 2000 and stayed. Here is a tidbit:

 

Although China hasn’t released any updated numbers, the country’s pre-pandemic census suggests that some had begun to leave even before the Covid crackdown. From 2010 to 2020, Shanghai’s expat population dropped from 208,000 to 163,000. A survey by the European Chamber of Commerce in April 2022 found that 85 percent of foreigners living in China said the lockdown had made them rethink their futures in the country. And before I left, I would frequently walk around formerly expat-rich districts like Shanghai’s French Concession or Beijing’s Sanlitun and be the only foreigner on the street.

 

China’s expat exodus is occurring during a precarious time for the country: In 2022, China’s total population decreased by more than 800,000 — the first population decline in more than sixty years. Now that the failed zero-Covid policies have been lifted, China is desperately looking to win back both foreign investment and foreign professionals. But the question remains if foreigners will return, and what the lives they lead in post-Covid China will look like.

 

CNBC had a story back in June about high-net-worth individuals also leaving the country:

 

According to a report by investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners, China is expected to lose the largest number of dollar millionaires this year due to migration, when compared to any other country.

 

Data from the firm showed that a net 10,800 high-net-worth individuals migrated out of China in 2022, and another net 13,500 are expected to leave this year.

 

This is not an issue that started with the coronavirus pandemic, and has been going on for the last 10 years.

 

If I were an expat or a millionaire, I wouldn’t want to stay in China either.