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Desire to move to US drops to new low: Survey

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by Ryan Mancini - 04/23/26 6:43 PM ET

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by Ryan Mancini - 04/23/26 6:43 PM ET

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A new poll released Thursday shows that respondents’ desire to move to the U.S. has dropped to a new low despite still being the most preferred destination among foreign citizens to permanently move to.

Global polling taken by Gallup in 2025 found that 15 percent of surveyed adults worldwide say they would move to the U.S. as their top choice, a 9-point drop from the 24 percent seen between 2007 and 2009. The latest time frame in which this was tallied was in 2017, when 18 percent of respondents said they desired to move to the U.S.

The U.S. remains the most desired location to move to among people from Latin American, Caribbean and sub-Saharan African countries.

Canada ranks second at 9 percent, followed by Germany at 5 percent. Four percent of surveyed foreign nationals chose Australia, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Japan each as their next choice.

Gallup’s data showed that Latin American countries accounted for 7 of the 16 countries where the percentage that named the U.S. a preferred destination fell by at least 10 points. That region saw desire decline from 33 percent in 2024 to 28 percent in 2025.

Mexico saw one of the largest declines, dropping by double digits to 21 percent, matching Gallup’s low captured in 2017 and 2018.

“For years, the dominant story in global migration data was a rising desire to move across nearly every region,” Gallup stated. “The 2025 data suggest that pattern is shifting. The declines are widespread and concentrated in the regions that have historically driven global migration.”

Gallup also found that the desire among Americans to move abroad was concentrated among women younger than 45, at 40 percent. This number grew from 10 percent in 2014.

“The trend first rose sharply in 2016 and continued across multiple years, suggesting a broader shift in outlook rather than a short-term political effect,” Gallup stated.

The polling firm noted that despite “these changes, many people worldwide — an estimated 900 million — would like to move, including about 134 million who would prefer to move to the U.S.”

The Gallup survey was conducted Sept. 12-15 and included more than 144,000 respondents from 140 countries.

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