Mario (28) emigrated to Australia: "I earn 700 euros in a weekend"
Mario (28), a Spaniard, left his homeland and moved to Australia, where he is paid significantly better. He can earn up to 700 euros in a single weekend.
More and more young Spaniards are seeking their fortune abroad due to the high cost of living. Mario is one of them. The 28-year-old has been living in Australia for over four years, where he works in the cotton sector and can earn over 700 euros in a single weekend.
Especially on holidays and weekends, wages in Australia are very attractive. "In two days, I earned 1,320 Australian dollars (about 700 euros)," Mario told the newspaper "El Español." "During the cotton season, my job was to unload trucks full of cotton in 200-kilo blocks. That was 12 hours a day. We unloaded and stored it."
In Spain, however, with rising living costs, it was difficult to make ends meet on an average monthly salary of 1200 euros. A friend told him about an offer in Australia, and so he emigrated there with a few friends. "I left to learn English and to surf," said Mario.
Australia is particularly popular with younger Spaniards, as they can work and travel there on a working holiday visa. According to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics, more than 2.8 million Spaniards live abroad, a new record.
Like Mario, Beth Maitland (32) also left her homeland. She gave up her life in Plymouth, England, and emigrated to Thailand a year ago. Her conclusion is positive: "For the first time in a decade, I feel that I have a positive future, can buy a house, and achieve my career goals." She was unable to save any money in Great Britain.
A trend also observable in Germany: More and more people are emigrating . Last year, the number reached 270,000, more than ever before. The 18- to 29-year-old age group accounts for the largest share of all migration movements. In 2024, 75,559 people in this age group emigrated from Germany, representing around 28 percent of all emigrants. But the number of emigrants of retirement age is also rising. At eleven percent, German senior citizens are the second largest group of emigrants.
More and more countries are offering financial incentives to encourage people to relocate. These offers range from monthly payments to a lump sum of up to €84,000.
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