Julien* left Paris in December. "I didn't feel happy in France any more," said the restaurant entrepreneur, now based in Georgian capital Tbilisi.
At his restaurant, Julien had observed a clear drop in customer numbers this year. "I've lost a lot of customers this year. People can't afford to go out and shop like they used to," he told Euronews.
In his view, there is"a lack of opportunities" for entrepreneurs,"a monstrous tax burden in France" and above all"a very bad atmosphere overall".
Antoine, an engineer in the luxury goods sector in the French capital, shares this unease, even if he has not yet taken the plunge.
He said he "adores" his city, where he was born and works, but added he felt an increasing urge to leave.
In Canada, he said he had rediscovered "a kind of acceptance of others" that he no longer felt in France.
In France, he lamented, "there's a lot of hatred between people." "People prefer to pull at each other rather than help each other," he added.
On the material front, despite a career in management, Antoine told Euronews that he has reached an impasse: without an inheritance, he explains that he couldn't buy his own place on his own or even "live in the town where I was born".
The testimonies reflect a more general malaise: according to a Gallup survey published on Monday, more than a quarter of French people are considering moving abroad permanently.
The spectacular rise, unprecedented for nearly 20 years, follows a sharp decline in confidence in institutions and a political climate perceived as increasingly anxiety-provoking.
Against a backdrop of significant political instability and lasting economic pessimism, the drop-off is reflected in a massive desire to go elsewhere.
According to the institute, 27% of adults in France say they would like to move abroad permanently if they had the chance, up from 11% last year.
A spectacular increase, rare on a global scale, placing France among the countries with the largest annual growth in the desire to emigrate since the institute began asking this question in 2007.
After several years of relative stability, confidence in the national government fell to 29%, a drop of 13 points in one year.
Confidence in the judicial system (50%) and in financial institutions (42%) also fell sharply. In 2025, no other EU member state recorded a comparable average decline across these indicators.
According to Benedict Vigers, senior editor at Gallup in France, confidence in French institutions typically remains stable from one year to the next.
Since President Emmanuel Macron came to power in 2017, it had even improved, Vigers said. But all that progress has been wiped out in just 12 months, he noted.
This loss of confidence comes at a time of significant political instability. Since the surprise dissolution of parliament in June 2024, Macron has had one prime minister after another, all faced with the absence of a parliamentary majority.
Budget proposals have triggered repeated censure motions, fuelling political paralysis.
As a result, Macron's popularity has suffered. In 2025, his approval rating will fall to 28%, an all-time low and a far cry from the 61% recorded in his first year in office, according to Gallup. While Macron's rating remains slightly higher than François Hollande's at the end of his term, the erosion of confidence is clear.
On the economic front, pessimism is rife: 67% of French people believe that their situation is deteriorating, compared with just 21% who see it improving.
Since 2015, France has been on of OECD's most economically pessimistic countries, just behind Greece.
For Julien, this political climate has counted as much as the economic difficulties. He described "all the instability at government level" and the feeling that "the population is no longer in agreement with the political bodies and the government".
For Antoine, the concerns are also focused on the political future. According to him, the climate was "ultra-morose," making him "very worried about the 2027 presidential election" because of the rise of the far right.
Adèle, on the other hand, has already left. In 2024, she moved from Lyon to Leipzig in Germany to embark on a career change.
She explained that in France, going back to school and changing field — from law to illustration — seemed "less feasible, less encouraged, more stigmatised," whereas in Germany, "career paths are more flexible".
For all that, the link with France remains strong. She spoke of a persistent nostalgia — for the language, the culture, the landscapes — that could lead her to return one day.
But her recent trips back home have"rekindled her anger," she explained. After taking part in a demonstration in September, she says she was "terrorised" by the "violence of the repression," which"made her very anxious," particularly"as a queer woman".
Hadrien and Sophie took the opposite route. After several years in Toronto, this couple of bankers returned to live in Paris.
"France isn't perfect," they admitted, but "we're not so bad in France either."
They pointed out that in Canada "you pay just as much income tax but life is very expensive," whereas in France, they enjoy more holidays and a cost of living more compatible with their daily lives.
"We're still in a beautiful country," they added, feeling that the prevailing discourse sometimes tends to exaggerate the doom and gloom.
Clément, on the other hand, does not see himself returning. Having left to settle in Toronto in 2023, he says he is deeply "disgusted" by the French political situation, describing it as "all nonsense" and feeling that he is being represented by leaders who are not like him.
"A turning point has been reached," he said. "The divide is really visible."
According to Gallup, the link between institutional distrust and the desire to leave is clear: nearly half of French people with little or no confidence in institutions report wanting to leave the country, compared with a much smaller proportion among those who retain high confidence.
With Macron's second and final presidential term ending in 2027, the challenge for his successor will be immense, starting with rebuilding now eroded public trust.
Alexander Kazakevich contributed reporting to this article.