Gallup: 700M In World Would Like To Live In A Different Country, USA Top Choice

According to a two year survey of 135 countries, Gallup estimates that 700 million adults in the world (16% of the adult population) would like to live in a different country, with about 25% naming the United States as their dream home. Canada is the second-most popular choice.

The rest of the top desired destination countries (those where an estimated 25 million or more adults would like to go) are predominantly European. Forty-five million adults who would like to move name the United Kingdom or France as their desired destination, while 35 million would like to go to Spain and 25 million would like to relocate to Germany. Thirty million name Saudi Arabia and 25 million name Australia.

Roughly 210 million adults around the world would like to move to a country in the European Union, which is similar to the estimated number who would like to move to Northern America. However, about half of the estimated 80 million adults who live in the EU and would like to move permanently to another country would like to move to another country within the EU -- the highest desired intra-regional migration rate in the world.

In general, Asians, South Asians, and Australians are most content where they are. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sub-Saharan Africans are the most desirous to leave their home countries.