100 young people. In Sierra Leone, 19 would stay

Which Countries Do People Want to Leave Most? A 2026 Ranking.

Gallup asked 430,000 people in 149 countries whether they would move abroad permanently if they could. Its Potential Net Migration Index turns those answers into a what-if scenario: how many young people (ages 15–29) each country would lose or gain if every wish came true. Worldwide, 15% of adults, about 900 million people, say they would leave their country for good.

Which countries would lose the most young people?

Sierra Leone would lose 81% of its young population, Liberia 79%, Ghana 67%, the Comoros 64% and Morocco 60%. Gallup counts 15 countries that would lose at least half of their young people, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and Latin America.

Which countries would gain the most?

Iceland's youth population would grow more than 17-fold, Switzerland's about 8-fold, and New Zealand's and Canada's nearly 7-fold. Armenia also appears among the biggest gainers.

Why do people want to leave "dream countries" too?

In the US, 40% of women aged 15–44 would leave for good, up from 10% in 2014, against 19% of men. In Canada, a record 20% want to leave, up from 8% in 2011. Both remain top destinations for would-be migrants.

What do independent polls say about Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan?

Levada Center found 9% of Russians wanted to move abroad in April 2025, the lowest in 35 years, down from 22% in 2021. In Ukraine, Gallup found the share fell from 35% in 2021 to 9% in 2022. Belarus has no comparable independent series, but Poland issued about 300,000 first-time permits to Belarusians in 2022, versus roughly 50,000 a year in 2017–2020. In Kazakhstan, about one in five is considering leaving, and 6.9% are actually planning to. These figures use different questions and methods and should not be ranked against each other.

What this data does not mean

Wanting to leave is not the same as planning to leave. The index is a hypothetical scenario, not a forecast, and each country has its own margin of error.

Sources: Gallup World Poll (2023–2025), Levada Center, Belfer Center, CRRC-style regional surveys, Demoscope.

Which country has the highest desire to emigrate? 

In Gallup's 2023 data, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, the Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, the Gambia and the Comoros are among the top ten, with about half of adults or more wanting to leave in several of them.

What percent of the world wants to emigrate? 

15% of adults in 2025, about 900 million people. It was 16% from 2021 to 2024.

Do people who want to leave actually leave? 

Mostly no. Far fewer people have plans to move, and fewer still can.

Editor's note - The IMMIGRANTS

Most rankings of "countries people want to leave" show a single percentage. We wanted to show what that wish would mean in practice: out of 100 young people, how many would stay, and how many would go.

The main ranking uses Gallup's Potential Net Migration Index, based on 430,457 interviews in 149 countries from 2023 to 2025 (published April 2026). The section on Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan draws on other pollsters and researchers, because those countries do not appear in Gallup's published tables. Their questions, years and methods differ, so we present them separately and do not rank them against each other.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Wanting to leave is not the same as planning to leave. Most people who say they would move never do.

• The youth figures are net: those who would leave minus those who would like to arrive.

• Polls conducted in wartime or under political pressure, including those in Russia and Belarus, may understate real sentiment. We flag where this applies.

• One of our Belarus figures, from a youth survey, comes from a source that does not state the year of fieldwork.

We compiled and checked the figures against the original publications, which are linked at the bottom of the interactive.

Found an error, or have newer data? Write to info@immigrants.live. We will correct the page and note the change here.

Last updated: 20.09.2026. Prepared by The IMMIGRANTS.