London: More than half of the Arab youth would like to leave their home countries, a survey conducted by BBC Arabic has found.
The number has increased by more than 10 per cent since 2016 for those aged 18-29, according to the Big BBC News Arabic Survey 2018/19, conducted with the Arab Barometer research group.
The survey conducted in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Yemen, Jordan, Iraq, Sudan, and Lebanon, received more than 25,000 responses from people aged 18 and above.
Some of the striking figures in the survey showed that 70 per cent of young Moroccans were considering leaving their country and almost half of those surveyed in Sudan, Jordan and Morocco and a third in Iraq are considering emigrating.
The number of people who chose Europe as their first choice has fallen since previous surveys with North America as the top choice for Jordanian and Lebanese youth, while the Gulf as the first choice for the Egyptians, Yemenis and Sudanese.
The survey shows that participants “seem to be turning away from Europe and towards North America and the Gulf, and that’s perhaps because the Gulf has been opening its doors a little bit more in recent years,” said Rosie Garthwaite, senior producer at BBC News Arabic.
The number of migrants escaping violence in Syria and Iraq, as well as large numbers from Afghanistan, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa and crossing the Mediterranean Sea to seek refuge in Europe, increased in the last eight years, peaking in 2016.
The survey showed that the numbers of people in Jordan, Iraq, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt who are considering emigration have increased since 2013.
However, the survey also said that rates in Palestine, Algeria, Sudan, Yemen and Lebanon have “declined substantially over the past decade."
“Economic factors are the predominant reason for emigration followed by corruption, and men are more likely than women to consider emigrating, especially in Egypt," the report stated.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), in 2018 Arab countries had the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. In addition, conflict and instability in Yemen, Palestine, Sudan, Algeria, Libya and Iraq has increased economic deterioration.
Twenty per cent of people aged 15-24 in Morocco were unemployed in 2018, said the ILO.
According to the survey, a minority of people there “want more rapid or sudden (political) change, particularly young people.”
The economies of countries like Jordan and Lebanon have been affected by the violence in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
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