Reason people won't live on remote 'paradise island' where Brits can move for free

In the Pacific Ocean there's a very remote place where hardly anyone lives, and if you successfully migrate there you get some land for free.

Time for a history lesson, on 3 July, 1767, a 15-year-old sailor on board the HMS Swallow named Robert Pitcairn spotted some land in the Pacific which ended up being named after him.

The Pitcairn Islands are a group of four consisting of Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oneo.

In 1790 a group of nine mutineers from the HMS Bounty (of 'mutiny on the Bounty' fame) along with 18 Tahitians who were with them settled on Pitcairn Island itself and it has been populated ever since.

Packing it in to go live on a Pacific island sounds great, but it really is in the middle of nowhere and there's only about 50 people there (Getty Stock Image)

However, there's really not a lot of people on Pitcairn as the recorded population reached peaked at over 200 people in 1937 and the latest figure has 47 people still living there.

Situated about 3,500 miles east of New Zealand, it's a very remote location so with almost nothing and nobody anywhere nearby there's very few folks eager to head out there.

There have been attempts on behalf of Pitcairn to get people to head out there but it has faced some obvious difficulties.

No flights go to the island, you'd have to travel there aboard the supply ship MV Silver Supporter.

Just so you understand how remote this place is (Google Earth)

While you might get a free parcel of land if your application is successful you do need to prove that you can afford to support yourself on the island for a two year residency period.

Applying isn't free either, your application carries a fee of $500NZ (£233) whether it succeeds or not so you'd best be sure you have a serious application ready.

As of August 2024 the settlement process is currently under review so if you want your own slice of Pacific paradise you'll have to wait until they're accepting applications again.

If your application is successful then you'll get some land with it for free, though you'll probably want to spend money on building an actual home there which means you might need to hire people to visit the island and put it together for you, or hire locals to help you build it.

Successful migrations to the island get a free plot of land to build a house on, but you do have to pay to apply to live there (Getty Stock Image)

Pitcairn was rocked by a sex abuse scandal in 2004 when seven men living on the island, including their mayor Steve Christian, were accused of 55 charges of sexual abuse of children and young adults.

A further slew of charges were also brought against six men living abroad including Christian's son, Shawn.

The accused represented a significant proportion of the island's male population, and all but one of the defendants were convicted of at least some of the charges they faced.

After spending time in prison Shawn Christian would later be elected mayor of the Pitcairn Islands between 2014 and 2019.