Almost Half of Arab Youth Considering Emigrating, Survey Finds

The survey, which interviewed 4,000 Arab youths from 17 countries and was released on Tuesday, found that 42 percent of all Arab youth surveyed had considered emigrating to another country, with 15 percent actively trying to leave, Al Jazeera reported.

The Levant region had the highest number of youth who wanted to emigrate, at 63 percent. In Lebanon, the number stood at 77 percent.

The survey found that disappointment with poor leadership, rampant corruption and widespread economic failure were among the reasons that many young people were considering emigrating.

A total of 77 percent of all Arab youth said there was corruption in their country.

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened economic difficulties, with 20 percent of the youth surveyed saying they or a family member had lost work since the outbreak began.

Overall, 72 percent of Arab youth said they felt it was more difficult to find a job. The highest numbers of young people saying it was hard to find employment were in Lebanon (91 percent) and Jordan (90 percent).

Of those surveyed, 35 percent of Arab youth reported being in personal debt, a jump from 21 percent in 2019.