A survey conducted by an international polling agency has revealed more than half of Kenyans would willingly and immediately relocate to another country given the chance.
The results of the survey conducted by US-based Pew Research Centre in six sub-Saharan countries cited 54 per cent of Kenyans were ready to emigrate according to Nairobi News.
Kenya came in third after Nigeria and Ghana.
Last year, just 19 per cent of Kenyans interviewed by the same polling agency said they were ready to emigrate.
In the new survey, majority of Kenyans-55 per cent- listed the United States as the top destination out of the six sub-Saharan countries that took part in the survey.
Already, Kenyans living in the US are about 120, 000 while a further 180, 000 live in Europe according to UN data cited by Pew in the survey.
Kenya is the fourth largest source of African immigrants to the US after Nigeria (280, 000), Ethiopia (220, 000) and Ghana (160, 000).
In Europe, Kenya ranks seventh in African states with the largest source of emigrants.
Pew, though, did not ask why the respondents what inspires their relocation.
But with high unemployment rates in Kenya and also other developing states in sub-Saharan Africa, this could be the driving force behind the emigration.
Pew in its report further noted that “political instability and conflict are other factors pushing Sub-Saharan Africans to move.”
The survey was conducted last year in March just when the country was angling itself for the fiery Presidential campaigns.