Me iría demasiado (On Costa Ricans migration attitudes)
Last weekend I read that the proportion of Costa Ricans that want to migrate doubled in the last 10 years. I was especially surprised to see that 4 out of every 10 young adults (18-25 years old) wanted to migrate. As someone who lives in Costa Rica and has migrated, of course this topic caught my attention. So let's talk a little bit about context.
The first question that pops up to my mind is to ask if 42.4% is high (I'll focus on the youngsters). My first instinct was to compare them to Venezuelans. Last time the survey that the article makes references to was run in Venezuela was in 2016. That's the year just before the number of Venezuelans living abroad exploded (taken from wikipedia). The survey says that 58% of 18-25 years old wanted to migrate. The age group most similar to Costa Rica's youngsters was the 26-35 year olds, of whom 42.8% said they wanted to migrate.
Personal note, I was 26 years old when I migrated from Venezuela in January 2016. Saying I'm surprised by the similarity of these two proportions would be an understatement.
While the contexts of Venezuela in 2016 and Costa Rica in 2024 are undoubtedly different (at least from my POV), the comparable percentages suggest that there might be some interesting themes at play when it comes to young people's aspirations, willingness to seek opportunities abroad, and current perception of Costa Rica.
I'll delve deeper into the reasons behind this growing desire among Costa Ricans to migrate. Let's see what we find.
P.S: The "me iría demasiado" phrase in the title comes from a video that went viral in Venezuela a decade ago. The video, while mocked by some, unveiled a new chapter in a generation's story. It reflected a youth raised in political turmoil who, disillusioned, suddenly found exodus knocking at every door.