Indians carry their blue passport with pride. In a survey conducted across India, as part of developing a Happiness Index for Indians, the pride in the Indian passport has reflected vividly with almost 94 percent of Indians not wishing to move out even if given an opportunity to do so.

Of all those who participated in the survey, 84.3 percent showed no interested in leaving India while 0.3 percent responded with "depends" and 9.3 percent of the respondents were not sure of their answer. Only 6.1 percent of all the respondents said that if given an opportunity, they would leave India.

Surprisingly, only 6.2 percent of freshers (below 25 years) and 4.2 percent of young (25-45 years) respondents said they are willing to leave India given the opportunity while 9.7 percent of old (60 years and above) people responded with the willingness to leave the country if given an opportunity.

Among different income groups, people with higher income showed less willingness to leave India with only 3.3 percent responding positively while 8.9 percent of the people in lower-income group showed a willingness to leave the country.

The urban-rural divide was stark with only 0.7 percent people showing willingness to leave the country. On the contrary, 8.4 percent urban people surveyed showed a willingness to leave the country if given an opportunity. The figures were 3.5 percent for semi-urban people.

In the survey, people from the South were more willing to shift abroad with 13.6 percent responding affirmatively while 4.1 percent people in East, 4.0 percent in North and 3.7 percent people in the West showed a willingness to leave India given the opportunity.

Analysed on religious basis, only 9.7 percent Muslims showed willingness to leave the country while over 43.5 percent Christian showed interest in leaving the country if provided with the opportunity.

The survey was conducted by CVoter in association with Delhi based NGO Gender Mainstreaming Research Association (GMRA) as part of their ongoing effort to develop a comprehensive Happiness Index for India.  (IANS)