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January 7, 2026 16 mins
Young women, more than any other group, say they would leave America. Their list of reasons is long and plentiful. 

Have you ever thought about leaving the US, and starting over somewhere else? Maybe living the hygge lifestyle in Denmark, or soaking up the sun in Costa Rica? According to Gallup – a surprising number of women are considering it. In a poll released in November, 40% of women between the ages of 18 and 44 said they’d move to another country permanently if they had the chance. That’s four times higher than it was a decade ago – and this sentiment among women is unique to the US. But what’s behind young women’s willingness to imagine life elsewhere? And what does that say about the future of this country?

Brittany breaks it all down with Constance Grady, senior correspondent for Vox’s culture team who covers gender, and Scaachi Koul, senior writer at Slate and co-host of the BBC podcast Where to be a Woman.

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