The UK has fallen from ninth to 12th place in CS Global Partners’ 2025 World Citizenship Report, which highlighted a notable outflow of high net worth individuals (HNWI) in recent years.

The report stated that the trend of millionaires and HNWIs leaving the UK had “accelerated dramatically” since the announcement of non-dom reforms.

Of the 188 countries assessed, Switzerland came out on top with a score of 85, displacing Ireland, which held the top spot in 2024 but dropped to eighth in 2025.

The UK was given a score of 79.3, ranking it below several Nordic nations including Iceland, Finland, and Sweden.

The report evaluates nations across five core ‘motivators’ of citizenship: safety and security, economic opportunity, quality of life, global mobility, and financial freedom.

Its final rankings are determined via a formula that combines each country’s scores in these motivators, weighted according to their relevance to HNWIs.

Contributing factors to the UK’s lower ranking included rising inflation, and ongoing challenges in housing affordability, taxation, and access to public services, which CS Global Partners said had led to many exploring alternative citizenship options.

Despite these challenges, the UK continued to score well in the ‘quality of life’ section, maintaining its sixth-place ranking.

CS Global Partners said this reflected the country’s ‘enduring strengths’ in healthcare, education, cultural richness, and lifestyle offerings.

The report highlighted a shifting landscape in global mobility and quality of life considerations, with countries such as Switzerland, Italy, the UAE, and Singapore becoming increasingly attractive to HNWIs.

“The UK, while still powerful diplomatically and economically, must reckon with how domestic policies and quality of life metrics resonate with a mobile, discerning class of global citizens,” the report stated.

“Furthermore, the drop in Ireland’s position despite its previous top ranking serves as a reminder that no nation’s status is immune to change.

“For the UK, the current ranking offers both a reflection and a challenge to regain its competitive edge in a world where citizenship is no longer just a legal identity, but a lifestyle choice.”

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