Mauritius was not spared from the global economic crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Expat.com carried out a survey with expats living in Mauritius to understand how this has affected their stay here. Data shows that 77.03% of expats have been affected by this rise and as a result, 37.8% of expats have had to reconsider their future on the island and 14.3% have decided to move back to their home country.
77.03 % of expats' quality of lives negatively affected
Almost all expats living in Mauritius have been affected by the rise in cost of living happening in Mauritius and around the world following the sanitary crisis. Indeed, 97.5% of expats say they have noticed a rise in cost of living and 77.03% have mentioned that this rise has negatively impacted their quality of life on the island. Most respondents who said they had been affected by this rise in cost of living came from France, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Food was the main sector where this rise was felt. Indeed, 98.65% of expats reported having noticed a significant increase in their grocery shopping bill over the past year. Other sectors affected was the automotive industry, with fuel probably playing an important role in this response as it has seen a sharp increase since the start of the pandemic and other daily use products.
Expats abandon their expat project
According to the data collected, 14.3% of expats have decided to pack their bags because of the rise in cost of living. They were mainly from France but also from South Africa, the UK and Belgium.
Expats who have chosen to find their way back to their home country, however, do not only do so because of the cost of living. Indeed, our open-ended questions revealed that there is much more to it than the rise in cost of living. An entrepreneur from the UK mentioned that the rise in cost of living had caused them to have to work more to be able to make ends meet. They said having noticed a rise in prices of real estate, food, automobile, leisure, education and utility bills, all of which were not sustainable anymore.This caused a decrease in their quality of life and they could not enjoy the island as much as they wanted to anymore.
A Belgian entrepreneur in the 25 to 40 age group also expressed having a lot of trouble finding work which matched his skills on the island following the economic crisis. They also noticed a sharp rise in the construction industry which has significantly impacted their expatriation project. But over and above that, the expat also mentioned becoming worried about the rising number of COVID-19 cases and the inability for the healthcare system to cope with this.
Respondents profile
One hundred expats in Mauritius responded to the Expat.com survey between September and October 2021. Of the respondents, most were entrepreneurs (27.59%), employees (26.44%), followed by retirees (22.99%). Unsurprisingly, respondents were mainly from France, South Africa and the UK and the vast majority, 88.1%, were between the ages of 25 and 60.
