As many as 2.5 million French men and women live abroad — and more are leaving every year, mostly heading to London.
The French Foreign Ministry said 1.6 million people left the country last year,
The Independent of London reported Saturday.
The data include those who had registered at French consulates abroad.
"The real figure is twice as high," Hélène Charveriat, the delegate-general of the Union of French Citizens Abroad, told the Independent.
According to the foreign ministry's report that was published last month, people are leaving France for the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States, Belgium, and Germany.
The French consulate in London estimated that as many as 400,000 expatriates live in the capital — surpassing the number of people in
Nice, which is France’s fifth-largest city, according to 2010 French census data.
Charveriat said that the 2.5 million figure was "not enormous," but that the increase of about 2 percent every year was more troubling.
"Young people feel stuck, and they want interesting jobs," she told the Independent. "Businessmen say the labor code is complex, and they’re taxed even before they start working.
"Pensioners can also pay less tax abroad," Charveriat said.
France has an unemployment rate of about 10 percent, the Independent reports.
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