In a survey released this week by Monmouth University,more than one in three Americans polled said they would settle in another country if they could.
According to the poll, 34% of respondents said they would move, while 64% said they would not. Age was a big factor in responses.
A slight majority – 51% – of adults ages 18-34 said they would move, whereas just 17% of those aged 55 and up would resettle. Of those ages 35-54, 39% said they would move.
Political independents were more likely to say they move, with 41% saying they would. Republicans were least likely to want to move with 22% saying they would, while 35% of Democrats would relocate.
Gallup posed the same question to Americans back in 1995. Back then, just 12% said they would like to move to another country. In 1972, 13% said they would emigrate from the U.S.
Dating back to the 40s and 50s, less than 10% of Americans polled said they would emigrate from the U.S.
“After holding pretty steady over fifty years following World War II, there was a huge jump in the number of Americans who want to leave the country sometime in the last three decades. We are not sure exactly when this shift occurred because of the gap in polling on this question, but I’d be willing to bet that the partisan rancor of the past few years has played a significant role in the heightened desire to emigrate,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
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Regarding where Americans want to go, Italy tops the list followed by the United Kingdom. Ireland, Japan and Australia are tied for third.
According to data released late in 2023 by the Association of Americans Resident Overseas,there are anywhere from 4.8 million to 9 million U.S. citizens living elsewhere. According to an analysis for the group, Mexico has the highest number of U.S. citizens with almost 1.1 million. Canada has over 877,000 U.S. citizens. The United Kingdom comes in third with over 371,000.
