74% of Pakistani youths unwilling to leave country: survey

A MAJORITY of Pakistani youths is not ready to leave the country permanently. It was revealed in a survey of Ipsos Pakistan, in which more than 16,00 youths of the age of 18 to 34 years participated. The survey was conducted between September 20 to 27, 2024.

On the question, do you think of leaving Pakistan and moving abroad permanently? 74 percent of the Pakistani youths in the survey said that they do not think so and want to contribute to the country’s development while staying in Pakistan, while 26 percent said that if they get a chance, they would move out of Pakistan. Among the 26% of Pakistanis who expressed their willingness to leave the country, the majority expressed their desire to go to the Middle East; 30 percent to Saudi Arabia, 20 percent to Dubai, 9 percent to the United Kingdom, 8% to Canada, 8 percent to America, 5 percent to Europe, 3 percent to Australia, 2 percent to Turkey, 2 percent to Qatar, 2 percent to Italy and 1% to Germany.

In the survey, the majority of those who wanted to go abroad belonged to Islamabad and the privileged class, while 46 percent of the young people included in the survey from Islamabad wanted go abroad, 35% from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 27 percent from Punjab, 21 percent from Balochistan, and 20 percent from Sindh intended to go abroad, In terms of class, 36 percent of the young people included in the survey from the upper middle class or the privileged class expressed their intention to go abroad permanently, 28 percent from the middle class, while 23 percent from the unprivileged class had the intention to leave Pakistan and settle abroad.