February 2014 New Zealand is a dream migration destination for millions around the globe, and the population could rise by 134 percent if everyone could choose to live where they wanted, a survey has found.
Gallup's Potential Net Migration Index found people's desire to migrate permanently to other countries had cooled to 13 percent, but scores of people wanting to move to New Zealand are "still positive and high".
The survey involved about 520,000 interviews in 154 countries, and the net migration index value is obtained by subtracting the number of people who would want to leave each country from the number who want to move there.
Despite a drop from the high of 184 percent in surveys conducted between 2007 and 2009, New Zealand was still the fifth most popular destination, ahead of Singapore and Canada and just slightly behind Australia and Switzerland.
New Zealand's population of 4,242,048 would swell to 9,926,393 if everyone who wanted to move here made the shift.
Professor Paul Spoonley, a Massey University sociologist, believed "The big change in the last couple of years was the strength in the Australian labour market and the weakening of the job market in New Zealand, which could explain why Australia became a more popular choice."
In previous surveys, New Zealand was by far a more desired destination, scoring 184 points in 2009 against Australia's 148.
About 630 million people or 13 percent of the world's adults wish they lived somewhere other than their home country.
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[eduaid Newsdesk, Source: NZ Herald]
