Desire to Live in Pakistan: Stay or Leave?

Abstract

In our daily lives, we often hear people say, “things are so bad in Pakistan, I wish I could leave”. On the contrary, we also hear, “I can never ever think of leaving Pakistan, no matter what”. While there is almost a consensus among the population that the country is not going the way it should have been, * the response to it is varied. To gauge the desire of the people to stay in or leave the country, the PIDE 1 BASICS Survey asks the respondents if they were given a chance to leave Pakistan would they like to do it, and if yes, the reason(s) for it. We see this sentiment in the four provinces and the three territories, and across regions, sex, age, and education and income levels.