In commemoration of the December 18, International Migrants Day, the Center for Democratic Governance (CDG), a local partner to Afrobarometer, a credible pan-African polling organization has released a survey mainly focusing on Liberians, who have considered emigrating from the country, in search of opportunities elsewhere outside of Liberia.

According to the survey released on Wednesday, December 18, by Elkanah Y. Taylor, Afrobarometer program coordinator, almost three-fourths of Liberians have considered emigrating, including about half of young adults and highly educated citizens.

This detailed analysis, Mr. Taylor noted, should be seen as a wakeup call for policy makers to take key interest in addressing issues of migration among young Liberia, and if care is not taken, the country risks losing some of the most educated, motivated and creative young people.

The most popular destinations among potential emigrants, the findings disclosed are North America (52%) followed by Asia (16%) and Europe (14%), although a significant proportion of potential Liberians would prefer to relocate to the United States of America.

The findings show that the primary motivation factors for emigrating are to find jobs and escape economic hardship.

Key findings

More than three-fourths (77%) of respondents say they have considered leaving Liberia including 5 percent, who say they have given it "a lot" of thought.

Thoughts of emigrating are most common among Liberians with full-time jobs (89%), the most educated citizens (83%) of those with post-secondary education, youth (83%) of 18 to 35 year-olds and urban residents (83%) say they have Thought about leaving Liberia, the survey findings noted.

According to the findings, the most common reason cited for potential emigration are economic hardship with job opportunities accounting for 40 percent of those who have considered emigrating.