​Global Migrants Less Enthusiastic About Moving to US

Canada is becoming the momentum destination for global citizens wishing to leave their current country.

Global migration has never been higher. In 2021, 16% of adults worldwide – which projects to be nearly 900 million people — said they would like to leave their own country permanently, if they could, according to a new study by Gallup.

And while the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted people’s mobility worldwide, during the second year of the pandemic people’s desire to migrate reached its highest level in a decade.

The US has been the No. 1 destination for every Gallup study on the topic since it began in 2007 – and this most recent report shows no difference – but Canada was the country that created the most buzz, wrote Gallup’s Anita Pugliese and Julie Ray.

Canada achieved its highest level of immigration in its history. And Gallup survey figures show that 8% of potential migrants – or about 74 million people worldwide – would like to relocate to Canada.

About one in five potential migrants (18%) — or about 160 million adults worldwide – named the U.S. as their desired future residence. However, this figure is down from where it was in all years leading up to 2017.

Results are based on interviews with nearly 127,000 adults in 122 countries.