54% of Sudanese want to leave the country: report

June 26, 2013, (KHARTOUM) – A survey conducted by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Qatar revealed that 54% of Sudanese wish to emigrate out of the country.

The study said out of those seeking to leave, 79% want to do so to improve living conditions, 5% for security reasons and 4% for political reasons.

Sudan ranked the first among countries included in the report such as Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, Palestine, Yemen, Kuwait and Libya.

Most of the Sudanese respondents asked said they want to live in Saudi Arabia (20%), Qatar (10%) and United States (8%).

This survey is the second of its kind after the first poll carried out during the years 2010-2011 on a sample size of 16,173 in 12 Arab countries compared to 21,350 in 2012-2013.

The supervisor of the project Mohammed al-Masri said this survey is the largest carried out in the Arab world. He added that it analyzed the results of the data at the provincial and the states level.

According to Reuters, nearly 95,000 Sudanese left the country last year compared to only 10,032 in 2008, according to official data. Some analysts say the number is even higher because travel movements are hard to monitor.

Sudan is battling its biggest economic crisis for decades as it struggles with a severe shortage of hard currency following the loss of three quarters of its oil production due to South Sudan’s independence in 2011. Oil revenues were the main source of revenue for Sudan’s budget and for foreign currency needed to pay for vital imports including food and medicine.

(ST)