More than half of Costa Rica’s young and educated workforce wishes to emigrate to another country in search of better opportunities as well as to flee the country’s high cost of living and unemployment, according to the latest opinion poll by CID Gallup.

More concerning, according to the poll, is that the largest segment of those wishing to emigrate is comprised primarily of young people aged 18-39 with higher levels of education “who could offer more to the nation in coming decades,” an effect that has come to be known as “brain drain.”

An unemployment rate that has remained essentially stagnant at 10 percent since 2011 and paychecks that don’t cover the high cost of living were cited as the prime motivators amongst Costa Ricans wishing to leave the country in search of better opportunities abroad.

According to the poll, 26 percent of households said that unemployment or the threat of unemployment was the top concern in their home, while in 1998 that figure was just 8 percent.

In addition, rising crime and insecurity rank high as motivating factors in many Costa Ricans’ desire to emigrate: one in five households in Costa Rica have a family member who has been the victim of a robbery or assault since January alone, according to the poll of some 1,200 people conducted between May 3-14 throughout the country.