The fourth Global Professionals on the Move 2013 report has revealed that the UK is second only to the US – and moved up the rankings this year – as the destination most high-fliers seek.

Conducted by business school ESCP Europe and published by global specialist recruiters Hydrogen, the data also shows that the UK is increasingly being regarded as a "global technology hub" among the 2,000 highly-qualified, high-earners surveyed around the world for the report.

Emerging markets play a vital role in the continued rise in expatriate assignment numbers. This spring’s Mercer webcast Mobility in New and Emerging Markets described the challenges and suggested solutions for equitable compensation packages in a more interconnected world where moves from, to and within new and emerging markets become ever more commonplace.

More businesses are decentralising global mobility operations and adopting more regional approaches to how they manage their mobility programmes, according to the 2013 Global Mobility Survey commissioned by Santa Fe.

The study surveyed 1,273 companies in 70 countries and found higher growth in mobility programmes managed from emerging markets compared to programmes managed from non-emerging markets: 39.4% of programmes managed from emerging markets reported higher growth in assignment activity compared with 29% in non-emerged markets.