Up to 18 billionaires have left the UK since 2023, by way of shifting their tax residency status abroad, new data suggests.
Henley & Partners’ data research team, New World Wealth, says Britain has lost more dollar-billionaires than any other country in the past two years, and the 18 figure equates to more than a quarter of this ultra-wealthy cohort.
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The UK’s billionaire base stood at a widely reported 156 at the beginning of the year, which had dropped from 165 year-on-year in 2024.
A supposed ‘Billionaire Brexit’ suggests rival wealth hubs globally stand to benefit by offering favourable taxation laws for the ultra-wealthy.
The data also suggests there is indeed a growing unease this group is feeling with the economic direction of the country under the current Labour government, evidenced by the indignation expressed at the abolition of the UK’s long-standing non-dom regime in April.
New World Wealth estimates the sands will keep shifting in terms of wealth migration, especially in the UK, which will have 72 dollar-billionaires left by the end of this year – down triple digits across the rest of the year.
Andrew Amoils of New World Wealth said: “When one examines the traditional wealth drivers, it becomes apparent that Britain’s economy has struggled to create new wealth ever since the 2008 global financial crisis, with per capita wealth in the country down by 10 per cent since its 2007 pre-crisis peak in dollar terms.
“High capital gains tax and estate duty [IHT] rates, which are among the highest globally, deter wealthy business owners and retirees from living in the UK.
“The recent tax rises from the October 2024 budget have exacerbated this issue as they pulled non-doms, farms and small businesses into the UK estate duty net.”
Outside of the UK, the data says other billionaire departures included 12 from China and eight from Russia over the same period.
The United States, meanwhile, gained 15 billionaires in this time, while the UAE saw the largest proportional increase to 28. This increase correlates with the growing value of the residential property markets in both these geographies.
The Gulf state has also seen more millionaires join as tax residents than any other country, in 2025, according to the same data, underscoring its growing credentials as a global financial centre.
Amolis added: “The continued ascendance of rival financial hubs such as Dubai, Frankfurt and Milan has eroded London’s status as the region’s top financial centre. Brexit has arguably accelerated this shift.”
Earlier in the year, Henley & Partners said it had seen a 57% jump in applications from wealthy Britons looking for alternative citizenship and overseas residency rights last year, up 580% compared with five years ago.
With tax issues for the ultra-rich driving this exodus, the UK’s Labour government so far has refused to relent by ruling out a broader wealth tax in recent days.
This uncertainty, Maxwell Marlow of the Adam Smith Institute, says, will only cause more wealthy tax-registered Britons to leave: “Wealthy individuals vote with their feet, and it is an indictment on Britain’s economic and political climate that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are giving up Mayfair for the Gulf states.
“Talk of a wealth tax, following the inexplicably masochistic abolition of the non-doms status, is scaring these productive investors and spenders away.”
He added: “The government must, as a matter of urgency, mimic the Italian or American high-net-worth visa system to attract these wealth creators back to Britain’s shores.”
Naturally, the knock-on effects of tax changes are being felt across the UK and certainly in some of its traditional wealth centres, such as Prime Central and Outer London.
But despite sentiment cooling among the UK’s existing super-rich, agents have reported rising stock levels and falling prices, which presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for domestic buyers to snap up dream properties in some of the Capital’s most exclusive postcodes.
