Nearly Half of Young Arabs Consider Emigration: Survey
DUBAI (Dispatches) – More than 40 percent of the Arab world’s 200 million youths are either actively considering or have considered emigrating to another country, this year’s Arab Youth Survey has found.
The survey, which is commissioned by Dubai communications agency Asda’a Burson Cohn & Wolfe, found that 47 per cent of young people in North Africa had considered emigration.
In some of the surveyed countries policies by Western countries or the Saudi regime have made life harder for people, including the youth.
The highest recorded desire to emigrate was in Lebanon, where 77 percent of respondents said they had considered leaving the crisis-stricken state, followed by Libya, Yemen and Iraq, each of which recorded between 65 and 69 percent of youths wanting to leave.
Meanwhile, the survey, which is in its 12th year, reveals that the global coronavirus pandemic has increased young Arabs’ desire to emigrate, with one-third of respondents saying the virus had made them more likely to want to live abroad.
The primary drivers behind young Arabs’ desire to emigrate, the survey said, were economic reasons and perceived government corruption, with educational opportunities, safety, security and new experiences also acting as important factors.
The survey, which polled 4,000 respondents between the ages of 18 and 24 from 17 Arab states in the Middle East and North Africa with a 50:50 gender split, also measured opinions of a variety of other subjects.
These included surveying the perception of anti-government protests which have swept across the region in the last 12 months, as well as opinions on gender rights, personal identity, foreign relations and media consumption.
The survey, which is commissioned by Dubai communications agency Asda’a Burson Cohn & Wolfe, found that 47 per cent of young people in North Africa had considered emigration.
In some of the surveyed countries policies by Western countries or the Saudi regime have made life harder for people, including the youth.
The highest recorded desire to emigrate was in Lebanon, where 77 percent of respondents said they had considered leaving the crisis-stricken state, followed by Libya, Yemen and Iraq, each of which recorded between 65 and 69 percent of youths wanting to leave.
Meanwhile, the survey, which is in its 12th year, reveals that the global coronavirus pandemic has increased young Arabs’ desire to emigrate, with one-third of respondents saying the virus had made them more likely to want to live abroad.
The primary drivers behind young Arabs’ desire to emigrate, the survey said, were economic reasons and perceived government corruption, with educational opportunities, safety, security and new experiences also acting as important factors.
The survey, which polled 4,000 respondents between the ages of 18 and 24 from 17 Arab states in the Middle East and North Africa with a 50:50 gender split, also measured opinions of a variety of other subjects.
These included surveying the perception of anti-government protests which have swept across the region in the last 12 months, as well as opinions on gender rights, personal identity, foreign relations and media consumption.