Word Choice/Phrase: Alternate Term for “Little Opportunity”

I would escape the lack of opportunities.

"They left the country to escape the lack of opportunities."

"They left the country to escape the scant opportunity (ies).

Google search: Scant - barely sufficient or adequate, as in "companies with scant [little] regard for the safety of future generations"

Middle English as a noun, "scant supply, scarcity," from Old Norse. As a verb and adverb from mid-15c (https://www.etymonline.com/word/scant).

You use scant to indicate that there is very little of something or not as much of something as there should be. She began to berate the police for paying scant attention to the theft from her car. If you describe an amount as scant, you are emphasizing that it is small (https://dictionary.reverso.net/english-cobuild/scant+opportunities).