LONDON, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Despite Britons currently having the legal right to settle in European Union (EU) countries, New Zealand and Australia have remained the most popular destinations for emigrants, an official report said Monday.

According to the report released by the Office for National Statistics(ONS), a third of all British emigrants living abroad made the 18,000-km journey to the southern hemisphere to settle in either Australia or New Zealand.

Even North America was more popular than the European mainland, which is separated from Britain by just 50 km. Last year, 28 percent of British emigrants headed for Canada or the United States, ONS figures showed.

Excluding the Republic of Ireland, EU countries accounted for just 18 percent of Britons living abroad. The report said 784,000 British people lived long term on the European mainland in 2017, with almost 70 percent settling in Spain, Germany and France.

Under EU rules, all citizens of the 28 member states have free movement across the bloc, with 3 million mainland Europeans currently residing in Britain.

New rules will apply when Britain leaves the EU in less than a year's time.