Trends in expatriationDuring the later half of the 20th century expatriation was dominated by professionals sent by their employers to foreign subsidiaries or headquarters. Starting at the end of the 20th century globalization created a global market for skilled professionals and leveled the income of skilled professionals relative to cost of living while the income differences of the unskilled remained large. Cost of intercontinental travel had become sufficiently low, such that employers not finding the skill in a local market could effectively turn to recruitment on a global scale.[citation needed]

This has created a different type of expatriate where commuter and short-term assignments are becoming more common and often used by organizations to supplement traditional expatriation.[9] Private motivation is becoming more relevant than company assignment. Families might often stay behind when work opportunities amount to months instead of years. The cultural impact of this trend is more significant. Traditional corporate expatriates did not integrate and commonly only associated with the elite of the country they were living in. Modern expatriates form a global middle class with shared work experiences in multi-national corporation and working and living the global financial and economical centers. Integration is incomplete but strong cultural influences are transmitted. Middle class expatriates contain many re-migrants from emigration movements one or two generations earlier.

In Dubai the population is predominantly expatriates, from countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines, with only 20% of the population made up of citizens.[10]

The continuing shift in expatriates has often been difficult to measure. According to UN statistics, more than 200 million people will be living outside of their home country in 2010[citation needed]. However, this number also includes economic migrants.

In terms of outbound expatriation, the UK has currently the highest number of expatriates among developed countries with more than three million British living abroad, followed by Germany and Italy.[11] On an annual basis, emigration from the UK has stood at about 400,000 per year for the past 10 years.[12] In terms of expatriates influx, the most popular expatriate destinations are currently Spain, followed by Germany and the UK.[13]

The Expat Directory is currently collating information on expatriate movements to provide a statistical overview of expatriate origin and destination countries. Current statistics show that the majority of expatriates originate from the United States. The questionnaire aims to provide further information or key destinations and the length of time that expatriates spend overseas. The survey will remain open ended with monthly snapshots collated from March 2010.[14]

According to linkexpats,[15] Dubai claims the highest number of expatriates,[16] followed by Abu Dhabi, and Muscat, Oman.

The Global Economic downturn of 2008/9 has seen many United Kingdom Expatriates returning back to the UK. This trend has been predominantly attributed to 'pensioner expatriates' with the poor exchange rate making life less affordable.[17] The process of relocating back to one's home country is known as repatriation and brings with it a specific set of challenges