For someone wishing to move to the U.S. the diversity lottery is a non-option, as the odds of winning it is a tiny fraction of 1%.
Practically speaking, if you're not being persecuted, and don't have immediate relatives in the US -- you can only come as a skilled worker. It's the only route available to the vast majority of those who wish to come here.
And the US is incredibly hostile to skilled workers by allocating a tiny number of visas for skilled workers. For comparison, Australia with 1/15th the US population lets in nearly as many skilled workers as the US does in a year -- i.e. approximately 15 times as many, per capita.
The global percentage for 2014 was 1.45% to be selected, but an applicant's percentage can be higher/lower depending on the quota assigned to their country of origin and the number of applicants for that country.
Practically speaking, if you're not being persecuted, and don't have immediate relatives in the US -- you can only come as a skilled worker. It's the only route available to the vast majority of those who wish to come here.
And the US is incredibly hostile to skilled workers by allocating a tiny number of visas for skilled workers. For comparison, Australia with 1/15th the US population lets in nearly as many skilled workers as the US does in a year -- i.e. approximately 15 times as many, per capita.