UK expats’ homesickness has decreased dramatically over the past five years as social media helps them to stay in touch with family and friends, new research shows.

Missing family and friends was once at the top of the list of expats’ concerns, but the number of those who miss their nearest and dearest has dropped by 44 per cent since 2008, according to a NatWest survey. However, nearly half of UK expats still cited family and friends as the primary factor they miss about the UK.

The latest findings from the NatWest International Personal Banking Quality of Life Index show that social media helps expats to settle in their new environments: “Brits are now finding it easier to 'up sticks' thanks to the plethora of internet tools available,” said Dave Isley, head of NatWest International Personal Banking, naming Picasa, YouTube, Skype, Google documents, Twitter and Facebook.

The report also found that factors such as missing the UK culture and countryside have disappeared completely over the past five years. Expats are instead more concerned with the practicalities of being abroad rather than being homesick. The research also found that nearly seven out of ten successfully embrace their new society and its customs.

Nearly eight out ten are leaving the UK to seek a better lifestyle, and seven out of ten move abroad because of work assignments, NatWest said.

The findings are based on a study carried out for NatWest International Personal Banking by the Centre for Future Studies, a UK think tank, between October and December 2011, with 1,800 expats participating.