Record Numbers

A poll found 40% of American women between the ages of 15 and 44 said they would like to permanently leave the US if they could.

Context

Gallup has tracked Americans' desire to leave the country since 2007. For most of that period, the percentage of people wanting to emigrate remained relatively low and consistent across different demographic groups. In 2014, only 10% of young women expressed a desire to leave, roughly matching other age and gender groups.

Sharp Increase

A Gallup poll from last Thursday found that the share of young women wanting to leave the country has quadrupled over the past decade, rising from 10% in 2014 to 40% in 2025.

The trend first began climbing noticeably in 2016, before President Trump's first term in office. The desire to emigrate continued increasing during both the Trump and Biden Administrations, reaching 44% in 2024 before settling at 40% in the most recent survey.

Reasons

Political views were strongly correlated with the desire to leave, with 29% of Americans who disapprove of President Trump saying they wanted to emigrate compared to just 4% who approve. Young women showed the steepest decline in confidence in national institutions of any demographic group, with their trust in government, the judiciary, the military, and election integrity dropping 17 points since 2015.

Young women are also more likely to identify as Democrats, with 59% identifying as or leaning Democratic, compared to 39% of young men. Both married and unmarried young women expressed similar levels of desire to leave, as did those with and without children. Canada remained the top destination, followed by New Zealand, Italy, and Japan.

Gender Gap

Young men showed far less interest in leaving the country, with only 19% expressing a desire to emigrate permanently.

This created a 21-percentage-point gap between young men and women, the widest gender gap Gallup has ever recorded on this question across more than 160 countries surveyed globally.