Survey Says Arab Youth Want to Bail

The latest Arab Youth Survey suggests that many Arab youths hope to emigrate (Wikipedia).

Nearly half of the 200 million young Arabs living in the Middle East and North Africa want to leave home. The twelfth annual Arab Youth Survey, conducted by Dubai-based public relations agency Asda'a Burson Cohn & Wolfe, published these findings on October 6.  This year’s survey, which collected responses from 4,000 Arabs aged 18 to 24 across 17 countries, took place against the backdrop of rising protests and economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. 

The survey revealed a renewed frustration towards the perceived incompetence of regional and national leaders. 42 percent of respondents wish to eventually emigrate, however, only 15 percent said that they could realize this goal. An additional 25 percent hope to emigrate in the future, while just 32 percent of those polled said they had no intention to leave their home country.  

Large differences with regard to desires to emigrate exist across the region. They peak at 63 percent in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian Territories, slipping to 47 percent in North Africa, and dropping to around 13 percent in the oil-rich monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Lebanon stands out, as 77 percent of its youth want to permanently leave the county, beating out war-torn Libya (69 percent), Yemen (66 percent), and Iraq (65 percent).

46 percent of respondents indicated the U.A.E. as their preferred destination.  The Emirates have held top rankings for the past nine years, with “a feeling of safety and security and the promise of higher salaries” fueling its popularity.  The U.S. came in second at 33 percent, followed by Canada and the U.K. at 27 percent and Germany at 22. 

The Middle East has the world’s highest rate of youth unemployment at 30 percent. Strong economies have driven young Arabs’ want to leave their countries. 87 percent of those surveyed worry about unemployment, however, only 49 percent believe that their home governments can ameliorate present realities. Endemic corruption, including bribery and favoritism, ranked second in terms of factors provoking the Arabian exodus. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has only lessened the standing of many regional governments in the eyes of these young individuals.   

Nevertheless, the survey paints a positive picture of gender rights. 75 percent of young Arab women claim that they have equal or additional rights to their male counterparts. 76 percent of these women and 70 percent of men went further, answering that the contributions of women’s labor to the family unit serves everybody’s interests. At any rate, the trend of young Arabs striving for a better life clearly presents in this latest poll. In the absence of widespread regional reforms in government, however, individuals have decided to realize this life abroad.