“Everywhere changes,” says Sarah Harrison. “But Cyprus changed in ways I could never have imagined: by the time I left, it felt like the island I fell in love with had slipped away…“

According to the latest Eurostat data, 18,000 people emigrated away from the island in 2022 (the last year for which data is available). About 95 per cent of those (close on 17,000) were non-Cypriot – which makes sense: if you were born somewhere, you’re less likely to leave.

But how many were Brits?

Once upon a time, these were the people who couldn’t wait to find their place in the sun: selling their semi in Swindon to move to the perpetual paradise of Peyia. But now?

Well, while there’s no definitive data on who is actually packing up and heading home, there is a suggestive lack of stats – and it all comes down to Brexit…

According to CySTAT, the number of EU nationals leaving Cyprus rises strongly year on year up until 2019, when Britain dropped out of the EU and off the data tables. In the following four years, the data no longer includes British residents leaving Cyprus. And suddenly, we see the number of EU emigrants level out.

Could it be that Brits make up a significant portion of those leaving the island?

Andrea Etherington certainly thinks so.

“Over 75 per cent of those we help relocate are Brits,” she reveals. “And I think that’s a fairly good indication of emigrants’ nationality.”

A Peyia resident, Andrea works for Cyprus Container Shipping, which has helped thousands of people relocate both to and from the island. Over the last few years, she admits that she’s seen a significant rise in the number of British-born residents leaving the island. And they’re all, she says, elderly…

“We’ve always seen a lot of Brits ending up in Cyprus: military who’d been here on tour, retirees from the Middle East not yet ready to face the rain. But there was a time in the early 2000s when Brits were arriving in Cyprus in their droves – perhaps related to the exchange rate,” she says. “I suspect those people are now all of an age when they want to go ‘home’ – back to Britain.

“They’re older, they miss their family; they want to make this decision before it has to be made for them. The vast majority of emigrating Brits are over the age of 65.”

Within the last week, Andrea has helped relocate a 91-year-old gentleman who’s “lived in Cyprus for donkey’s years and will be returning to family in Gloucester, as well as an 82-year-old who lost her husband two years ago and is going back to Norfolk.

“‘It’s time,’ they told me. ‘Time to go home.'”

During the pandemic, she reveals, fewer people left the island. “But in the years since, we’ve seen a distinct uptick in the number of people relocating back to the UK. The reasons are usually the same,” she adds. “It’s age, family or health – and the odd few who’ve had a relationship break-up or simply discovered they can’t afford the cost of living.”

75-year-old Margaret Davies retired to a Limassol village in 2010. “It was everything we’d dreamt of: community, sunshine, and a slower pace of life. But when my husband passed away in 2020, I began to have a rethink.”

In 2022, Margaret left for good.

“I had friends, both foreign and local. And I still loved life in Cyprus. But I was missing the grandchildren. And my health was getting worse – it was harder to get to hospital each month. So eventually, I packed up and came back to Hampshire.”

According to the InterNations Expat Survey, health care is one of the very few areas in which Cyprus ranks highly: 15th globally. But in almost all other categories, we’re slipping badly.

Chloe Morgan is one of the younger leavers; she first moved to Cyprus at the age of 22.

“I did exactly what you’d expect – came out on holiday, fell in love with a Cypriot, and stayed. My boyfriend’s family had a restaurant in Ayia Napa, so I worked there first. Then, when we broke up, I got a job in a real estate firm, working mostly with tourist rentals.”

For the first 10 years, says Chloe, Cyprus was a dream. “But by the age of 30, I knew it couldn’t last much longer. Everything from rent to groceries was getting more expensive, and eventually, I just couldn’t survive anymore. I wasn’t putting anything away for the future; I had no real job security. So last autumn, I moved back home to Bristol.”

In 2023, when Chloe left, the InterNations Expat Survey ranked Cyprus 47th out of 53 countries for ‘working abroad’.

This year, the island has slipped to 51st. Only two in five local expats are satisfied with their job and working hours, and 41 per cent of respondents said they were not paid fairly for their work.

But it’s not just age, health or cost of living that’s encouraging this exodus. For Sarah, who mentioned that she’d seen everything change, Cyprus was no longer the dream.

“By the time I left, I didn’t recognise Cyprus anymore,” explains the 68-year-old. “I know time marches on – but at this pace?

“When I first moved to the island, you could camp at Konnos and it was deserted; visit Akamas and not see another person for miles. Limassol was a sleepy coastal town, and Ayia Napa a quiet fishing village.”

69-year-old Sarah left Paphos two years ago, moving back to a sleepy Shropshire village.

“After years on the island, little of what I loved was left: Akamas was being raped, Limassol was a maze of construction, Nicosia had oozed out across the plain. Even the little mountain villages I loved so much seemed to have sold their soul to souvenir shops.”

“It was,” she admits, “a heart-breaking decision. My heart will always belong to Cyprus – but the Cyprus of the past. I made the right choice.”