BEIRUT — A new survey by the US polling company Gallup shows that a significant majority of people in Lebanon want to emigrate.
Here’s what we know:
• Sixty-three percent of people surveyed said they would like to move to another country, compared to 35 percent who said they would like to stay in Lebanon. The last time Gallup asked this question, in 2018, 72 percent of people said they wanted to stay compared to just 26 percent who wanted to emigrate.
• Eighty-five percent of people said they were finding it “difficult” or “very difficult” to make ends meet. Just 15 percent of people said they were living comfortably.
• A majority of people, 53 percent, said they could not afford food at times, compared to just 14 percent in 2018 before the economic crisis. In 2018, 6 percent of people said they could not afford shelter at times, a figure that is now approaching a third of the population.
• The number of people reporting negative emotions like stress, sadness, and anger are the highest they’ve ever been in Gallup’s 16-year history of polling in Lebanon.
• Gallup says they interviewed 1,000 people, age 15 and older, by phone between Aug. 10 and 28, 2021. The margin of error for results based on the total sample is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.