40% of Younger American Women Want to Leave
Four in ten younger American women are eyeing the exit. (Getty Images/marchmeena29)
A new Gallup survey shows a record share of young American women are thinking about building their lives outside the United States. This year, 40% of women ages 15 to 44 say they would move abroad permanently if given the opportunity—four times the share reported a decade ago in 2014. Interest in leaving the country began climbing sharply around 2016 and has stayed high ever since, regardless of who occupies the White House. The increase has created a striking 21-point gap between young women and men, the largest gender divide Gallup has measured in any nation. Back in 2014, men and women expressed similar levels of interest in emigrating.
Among those considering a move, Canada stands as the top preferred destination, followed by New Zealand, Italy, and Japan. Before 2016, younger American women were actually less likely than peers in other countries to want to relocate. Today, they are more likely to consider a move than women in other wealthy nations, where interest has remained stable. Young American men, on the other hand, continue to show a stronger preference for staying in the U.S. Axios notes that in places like Malta and Zambia, roughly 40% of women also want to emigrate—but in those countries, men report similar levels of interest.
Gallup points to declining trust in major U.S. institutions as a key factor behind the shift. Over the past decade, confidence among young women in the government, the courts, the military, and the election system has fallen more sharply than in any other demographic. The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, may have contributed to this trend; young women’s confidence in the judiciary dropped from 55% in 2015 to 32% in 2025. Still, Gallup notes that interest in moving abroad was already rising years before that ruling.
The desire to leave is strong among young women across different life situations—single or married, with children or without. Since 2017, the issue has also become more politically charged, with a 25-point gap in migration interest between those who approve and those who disapprove of the country’s leadership. While expressing the desire to relocate doesn’t necessarily mean someone will ultimately do it, Gallup says the results show one clear trend: millions of younger American women are increasingly envisioning their futures in another country.
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