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Poll: More than half of Jamaicans say they would not migrate

 
More than half of Jamaicans polled on whether they would relocate to another country, said they would not leave the island of their birth.
 
At the same time, of those who said they were willing to migrate, the majority selected the United States as their number one destination. 
 
This is according to the findings of the latest RJRGLEANER-commissioned Don Anderson poll, in which 56.8 per cent of respondents said they would not migrate, while 43.2 per cent said they would.
 
A total of 1,033 Jamaicans, aged 18 years and older, participated in the national survey between May 18 and June 7. 
 
It has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.
 
The data showed that it is mostly the older participants who are unwilling to leave, with 86.5 per cent of those aged 65 years and older indicating such. 
 
Of those aged 55 to 64 years, 74 per cent said they would remain in Jamaica permanently. 
 
Of the participants aged 45 to 54, 65.1 per cent said they had no interest in migrating.
 
Conversely, some 71.2 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds said they would leave, along with 65.8 per cent of those who are between 25 and 34 years.
 
The majority, or 51.3 per cent of those in the 35 to 44 age group, also said they would migrate. 
 
There was a three percentage point difference between the number of men, at 58.4 per cent, and women, 55.5 per cent, who said they would not leave Jamaica.
 
In the meantime, the United States was the top pick of likely destinations for participants in the public opinion poll who indicated that they would migrate. 
 
The North American country was selected by 49.9 per cent of those who said they would leave Jamaica, while neighbouring Canada ranked second at 42.6 per cent.
 
European countries and United Kingdom were together the third selected by respondents at 23.2 per cent, while 'another Caribbean country' was the fourth, with eight per cent.
 
Countries in Asia were attractive to 4.8 per cent of the respondents.
 
Another 8.2 per cent of respondents who said they would migrate were not sure which country they would want to leave for. 
 
Available data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services indicate that 20,200 Jamaicans were naturalised in the 2023 financial year, which is from October 2022 to September 2023.
 
This represents a 12 per cent decrease from the 22,963 Jamaican-born migrants who were naturalised in the United States in the 2022 financial year.
 


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