London: A vast majority of youths in 10 countries of the world, including India, want to emigrate and secure a better future and believe that there should be no migration controls, a survey of 15 to 17-year-olds has found.
Four out of five youngsters feel people should be able to live in any country they choose while two-thirds say they would emigrate to secure a better future and one in seven risk their life to reach another country, according to a survey of 3,000 teenagers in 10 cities as part of the BBC's Generation Next series.
The young people were quizzed on a range of contemporary political issues.
The key areas of questioning were immigration, climate change, terrorism and war, crime, religion, education, global population and honesty.
The 10 key cities involved in the poll were New York, Moscow, London, Delhi, Nairobi, Cairo, Lagos, Rio de Janeiro, Baghdad and Jakarta – though due to their sensitive nature, not all questions could be asked in all areas.
On the question of immigration, 79 per cent thought that people should be able to live in whichever country they chose and 64 per cent said that they would emigrate to secure a better future.
The proportion of respondents that would emigrate to secure a better future was highest in Nairobi and Delhi (81 per cent each).
Despite the violence and unsettled situation at home, 50 per cent of the youth in Baghdad said they would not emigrate - the biggest negative response of all 10 cities.
The results show the desire of young people to be highly mobile, with very little difference between developed and developing countries.
But the sample was split about whether those who wanted to move to a new country should keep apart to maintain their own beliefs and culture – with 38 per cent saying they should and 49 per cent calling for immigrants to integrate and adopt the culture of their new country.
In New York, 61 per cent thought immigrants should integrate, with only 11 per cent saying they should keep apart. In Delhi, the figures were just 11 per cent for integration and 81 per cent for keeping apart.
When asked which was the most important issue globally right now, 36 per cent of the respondents listed terrorism.
The issue caused most concern in New Delhi (66 per cent), New York (63 per cent) and Baghdad (59 per cent).
And an overwhelming majority, 71 per cent, said that the US war on terror was not making the world a safer place. Just 14 per cent of respondents disagreed.
Ninety-eight per cent of Baghdadi respondents said the war on terror was not making the world a safer place.
This negative attitude was echoed in Rio de Janeiro where 92 per cent felt the same.
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