A new survey shows that 27% of Israelis are considering emigrating, even though most of them believe mass emigration would endanger the state’s future. The findings come after 18 months of war on multiple fronts and at a time when Israel is still recovering from conflict with Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah.

The study, released Sunday by the Israel Democracy Institute, reveals sharp social and political fractures: 30% of Arab Israelis are considering leaving, compared to 26% of Jewish Israelis. Among Jews, the less religious and more politically left a respondent was, the likelier they were to say they might go.

The majority of those considering leaving were not being lured elsewhere; they simply wanted out. Some 69% of Jews and 62.5% of Arabs who said they were thinking of leaving admitted they had no specific destination in mind.

The most likely group to consider leaving were secular young Israelis. A staggering 60% of young secular Jews said they would consider leaving Israel, and that number shot up to 80% among those with high incomes and foreign passports. High-paying fields like tech, finance, and medicine — the backbone of Israel’s modern economy — showed the highest levels of potential emigration.

Dual citizens were significantly more likely to consider departure, especially Israeli-born Jews who had lived abroad. The longer they were overseas, the more likely they were to contemplate life outside Israel permanently.

The war alone did not drive the trend. Respondents pointed to the cost of living crisis, security fears, political instability, and a bleak sense of their children’s future. Forty-two percent of Jews and 33% of Arabs said the current state of the country was “bad.” Single-digit percentages in both groups described it as “good.”

Among those considering leaving, top destinations included Europe (43%), far ahead of North America (27%).

The study notes that Israelis who immigrated to Israel are less likely to leave than those born there. That difference, researchers say, reflects a deeper motivation: those who actively chose Israel seem more committed to staying than those who were simply born into it.

Despite the rising willingness to leave, the strongest force keeping Israelis home was family. Both Arabs and Jews said they would be far likelier to leave if relatives had already moved abroad, suggesting a potential domino effect if the trend continues.

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