Emigration is the act of leaving your home country to live permanently in another one. When someone emigrates, they pack up their whole life and move to a new nation, planning to stay there and build a permanent home, often bringing their family along.

The word focuses on the leaving part of the journey. If your neighbor's family moves from the United States to Canada, they've emigrated from the U.S. (The same family has also immigrated to Canada, which describes the arriving side of their move.)

Throughout history, millions of people have emigrated seeking better opportunities, escaping danger, or joining family members who left earlier. Between 1892 and 1954, over twelve million people arrived at Ellis Island in New York Harbor, hoping to build new lives in America. Today, people emigrate for many reasons: better jobs, education, safety, or simply the chance to start fresh somewhere new.

Emigration requires courage. Emigrants often leave behind familiar places, friends, and sometimes even parts of their family. They must learn new customs, sometimes new languages, and build lives from scratch. Yet throughout human history, emigration has shaped nations, spread ideas across continents, and given countless families the chance to pursue their dreams in new lands.