Ireland is one of the top countries that young Americans want to emigrate to

Ireland is tenth on the list of countries that young Americans say is a potential destination for emigration.

Ireland ranks tenth, right ahead of Sweden and right after Germany, in the new survey of 3,000 Americans aged 18 to 26 conducted in October by Preply, a language tutor service.

Ireland ranks tenth on a list of countries that young Americans say they would potentially emigrate to. (Preply)

Preply asked respondents how strongly they felt that their future lay outside the US on a scale of one to five, with five being extremely eager to leave – the average score was 3.1.

Overall, social programs were the main reason that Gen Z Americans would consider moving abroad, Preply found, followed by having new cultural experiences, and the cost of living.

59% of respondents said gun violence in the US plays a major role in their desire to emigrate, while 72% said digital nomad influencers or ex-pat communities online have not influenced their decision to move abroad.

34.3% of respondents said they envision living abroad “indefinitely,” which was closely followed by 32.8% of respondents saying envision living abroad for one to three years.

The majority of respondents said that they would consider starting a family abroad and that their desire to live abroad is increasing as they get older. 

The majority of respondents said they do not personally know someone who has emigrated from the US in the last 15 years.

Ireland’s Census 2022 showed an increase in the number of US citizens living in Ireland – 13,412 people said that they were US citizens, up 2,893 people from 2016’s figure of 10,519, an increase of 27.5%.

Meanwhile, the number of dual Irish-US citizens living in Ireland increased by 71.2% between 2016 and 2022.

30,044 people normally resident in the Irish State reported being dual Irish-US citizens during the Irish Census 2022, an increase of 12,492 from the previous figure of 17,552 reported during the Irish Census in 2016.

Of the 30,044 claiming dual Irish-US citizenship in 2022, the CSO reported that 16,639 were born outside of Ireland and 13,405 were born in Ireland.

The largest groups of dual Irish citizens in Ireland on census night 2022 were Irish-UK (31,907), Irish-American (30,044), Irish-Polish (17,152), and Irish-Australian (14,444).

In the US, nearly 39 million people indicated that they were Irish during the 2020 US Census.