WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- Throughout the world, people are more inclined to migrate if they maintain international social networks, Gallup reported Tuesday.
Collecting data from 146 nations over two years, the polling organization found 30 percent of those who have friends or family abroad say they would like to migrate, while only 11 percent of those lacking such networks would do so.
The contrast is especially marked in Asia, where access to transnational networks increases the desire to migrate from 7 percent to 26 percent.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 29 percent of those without support systems would like to leave their homelands, but 48 percent of those with them would like to do so.
Another significant factor is cash remittances from abroad. Of those who receive them, 36 percent would like to move, against only 12 percent of those who do not.
Gallup based its findings on interviews with 401,490 adults in 146 countries, covering nearly all the world's population, from 2008 through 2010, with a margin of error of 1 percentage point.
