British
See also: Dubai British SchoolIn 2012, there were an estimated 240,000 Britons living in the country, representing the largest western community in the United Arab Emirates and are made up primarily of English and Scottish expatriates. Prior to 2008, there were 120,000 Brits in the UAE. However after the 2008 UK recession another 120,000 Brits emigrated to the UAE to find work. This doubled the number of Brits to 240,000 within a period of just four years. Most Britons took their entire families with them. Main localities where British nationals are based include Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. A number of Britons working in the UAE are high-salary white-collar job professionals. In the 2010 UK general elections, following the drop in sterling, UAE-based British expats were seen taking advantage by sending increased funds back home to the UK, with the number of dirham trades flowing back to the UK rising by over 40 percent in two days.
Read more about this topic: Expatriates In The United Arab Emirates
Famous quotes containing the word british:
“They have to prove their superiority every day. Its their one tremendous weakness.”
—Edmund H. North, British screenwriter, and Lewis Gilbert. Captain Shepard (Kenneth More)
“The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians.”
—Tony Benn (b. 1925)
“The British are a self-distrustful, diffident people, agreeing with alacrity that they are neither successful nor clever, and only modestly claiming that they have a keener sense of humour, more robust common sense, and greater staying power as a nation than all the rest of the world put together.”
—Quoted in Fourth Leaders from the Times (1950)