Few Migrants Worldwide Want to Come Home

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In his inaugural speech in 2019, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky implored Ukrainians abroad to come home -- and to bring their knowledge, experience and values with them. But Gallup data show how tough of a sell this is, not just for the Ukrainian diaspora, but for most migrants.

At least 80% of migrants from a host of countries, including Ukraine and several others in conflict such as Iraq and Yemen, have no desire to leave their adopted countries and move home or anywhere else. But the list notably also includes countries such as Portugal, which is desperately trying to get Portuguese living abroad to return home in order to maintain a stable working population.

	Do not want to move	Want to move to another country	Want to move to home country
	%	%	%
Greece	90	7	3
Uzbekistan	88	11	2
Malaysia	87	9	4
United Kingdom	87	8	5
Portugal	86	6	8
Palestinian Territories	84	13	3
Iraq	84	15	1
Poland	83	15	2
Belarus	83	10	7
Kazakhstan	82	17	1
Yemen	80	14	5
Bosnia and Herzegovina	80	19	1
Ukraine	80	18	2
Countries with at least 300 first-generation migrants in sample
Based on Gallup World Poll 2010-2018

Some of these countries, again including Ukraine, will likely find it very difficult to lure their diaspora home. The percentages of migrants from these countries who want to return home are all in the low single digits.

	Want to move to home country
	%
Greece	3
Serbia	3
Georgia	3
Palestinian Territories	3
Pakistan	3
China	3
Congo (Kinshasa)	3
Indonesia	2
Philippines	2
Poland	2
Ukraine	2
Uzbekistan	2
Iran	1
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1
Iraq	1
Kazakhstan	1
Countries with at least 300 first-generation migrants in sample
Based on Gallup World Poll 2010-2018

At the same time, there are countries that would find it much easier to bring their diaspora home. Saudi migrants are the most likely to say that they would like to return home (30%), but sizable numbers of Australians (21%) and Turks (20%) would like to come home. Americans abroad also make the cut; 15% would like to return home.

	Want to move to home country
	%
Saudi Arabia	30
Australia	21
Turkey	20
Mali	16
United States	15
France	15
Countries with at least 300 first-generation migrants in sample
Based on Gallup World Poll 2010-2018

Implications

Many leaders like Zelensky who want their former compatriots to return home and bring the skills, knowledge and other experiences they've attained abroad face a tough battle. Most migrants say they don't want to come home. Although the reasons why migrants left their countries in the first place may not have been of the leaders' own making, leaders must still find compelling reasons for migrants to return and create policies that encourage returnees' investment in their home country and reintegration into the labor market.

Future articles and analysis will delve deeper into the demographics and the wellbeing of migrants who want to come home versus those who want to stay.

For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details.

Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.