America is the worst country in the world, the media tells them non-stop, so no surprise, Gen Z think they can pack their bags and move to another country where life will be idyllic.
As of 2020, almost three million people born in the US were living in different countries. American emigrants go everywhere—Mexico, Canada, Europe, Australia, Singapore… no other country has sent as many emigrants to as many places.
Revealed: Why Americans Want to Leave the US (preply.com)
That’s 1%. Or may be 2% or even 3% as the estimates vary by who makes the estimates. Over 20% of Americans living abroad are currently doing so because of a military assignment and another 1 in 4 are on a temporary work assignment. Many of the remainder are already dual citizens or have family/ancestry/right of descent immigration privileges in another country.
Contrary to the media nonsense, few Americans move out of the country permanently. An estimated 1% of retirees at age 65+ have retired abroad, and again, many did so because they were already working in another country at time of retirement, or they had previously immigrated to the U.S. (dual citizens) and return to the home country to retire.
Gen Z probably does not know that Americans are responsible for paying income tax to both their host country and the U.S. (subject to tax treaty issues), likely paying capital gains taxes to both countries, and for those age 65+ – lose Medicare access, and if they don’t pay Part B premiums and later return, they will owe a substantial penalty in future premiums, in perpetuity.
The survey, surprisingly, does not say how many of Gen Z are going to try and move abroad. Instead,
When asked how strongly they felt that their future lay outside the U.S. on a scale of one to five, with five being extremely eager to leave, the 3,000 young folks we polled returned an average score of 3.1.
The study then pontificates about how horrible things are in the U.S. (crime, lack of universal health care, costs of living) as to why they want to leave – but as an afterthought mentions that the #1 reason is to experience another culture. Hmmmm. That, actually, is sensible – and not based on how terrible the U.S. is.
33% of Gen Z that wants to move abroad already speaks another language besides English … hmmmm. They did not ask but suspect this means this group has close immigrant ties already to other countries.
