Foreign-born (also non-native) people are those born outside of their country of residence. Foreign born are often non-citizens, but many are naturalized citizens of the country in which they live, and others are citizens by descent, typically through a parent.
The term foreign born encompasses both immigrants and expatriates but is not synonymous with either. Foreign born may, like immigrants, have committed to living in a country permanently or, like expatriates, live abroad for a significant period with the plan to return to their birth-country eventually.
The status of foreign born — particularly their access to citizenship — differs globally. The large groups of foreign-born guest workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council states, for example, have no right to citizenship no matter the length of their residence. In Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, by contrast, foreign born are often citizens or in the process of becoming citizens. Certain countries have intermediary rules: in Germany and Japan it is often difficult but not impossible for the foreign born to become citizens.
The adjective foreign-born has two potential meanings:
The United Nations uses the first definition to estimate the international migrant stock, whenever this information is available. In countries lacking data on place of birth, the UN uses the country of citizenship instead. [3]
On the other hand, the United States Census Bureau defines foreign-born as "anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth", which includes persons who have become U.S. citizens through naturalization but excludes persons born abroad to a U.S. citizen parent or parents.
According to the UN: "Equating international migrants with foreign citizens when estimating the migrant stock has important shortcomings. In countries where citizenship is conferred on the basis of jus sanguinis, people who were born in the country of residence may be included in the number of international migrants even though they may have never lived abroad. Conversely, persons who were born abroad and who naturalized in their country of residence are excluded from the stock of international migrants when using citizenship as the criterion to define international migrants." [3]
The percentage of foreign born in a country is the product mostly of immigration rates, but is also affected by emigration rates and birth and death rates in the destination country. For example, the United Kingdom and Ireland are destination countries for migrants from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, but are themselves source countries for immigration to other English-speaking countries.
The Holy See is unique in having 100% of its population foreign-born, while Cuba is unique in having 0% of its population foreign-born. The region with the highest rate is Oceania, with 21%, while Asia has less than 1%.
Countries with immigration rates above 25% tend to be wealthy countries with relatively open migration or labour laws, including Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and the Persian Gulf states.
The largest foreign-born population in the world is in the United States, which was home to 39 million foreign-born residents in 2012, or 12.6% of the population. [4]
Rank [5] | Country | Region | Percentage of Foreign-born Population | Largest Foreign-born Group |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | United Arab Emitates | Greater Middle East | 88.52% [6] | Indian |
2 | Qatar | Greater Middle East | 81.3% [7] | Indian |
3 | Kuwait | Greater Middle East | 69.1% [8] | Indian |
4 | Bahrain | Greater Middle East | 54.6% [9] | Indian |
5 | Saudi Arabia | Greater Middle East | 37.37% [10] | Indian |
6 | Lebanon | Greater Middle East | 23% [11] | Syrian |
7 | Canada | North America | 23% [12] | Indian |
8 | Sweden | Northern Europe | 19.6% [13] | Syrian |
9 | Germany | Western Europe | 18% [14] | Turk |
10 | United Kingdom | Northern Europe | 14% [15] | Indian |
11 | United States | North America | 13.9% [16] | Mexican |
12 | Pakistan | Greater Middle East | 13.2% | Indian |
13 | Turkey | Greater Middle East | 7.18%[ citation needed ] | Syrian |
14 | Brazil | South America | 1.00%[ citation needed ] | Venezuelan |
15 | India | South Asia | 0.4% [17] | Bangladeshi |
Direct figures on Pakistan's total foreign-born population are unavailable. However, estimates for specific immigrant communities can be found, which are as follows: 8.4% - 10% Indians (i.e., Muhajirs from India and their descendants), [18] 1.6% - 2% Afghans, [19] 1% Bengalis, [20] 0.1 - 0.2% Burmese [21] [22]
Rank [5] | Country | Region | Refugees Hosted |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Iran | Greater Middle East | 3.8 million [23] |
2 | United States | North America | 3.6 million [24] |
3 | Turkey | Greater Middle East | 3.1 million [23] |
4 | Pakistan | Greater Middle East | 3.1 million [25] |
5 | Colombia | South America | 2.8 million [23] |
6 | Germany | Western Europe | 2.7 million [23] |
7 | Uganda | East Africa | 1.7 million [23] |
8 | Lebanon | Greater Middle East | 1.5 million [26] |
Rank | City | Country | Region | Estimate date and source (where available) | Foreign-born population | Percentage | Country of origin of the largest foreign-born group |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Karachi | Pakistan | Greater Middle East | Pakistan Bureau of Statistics 2017 (and other sources) | 18,342,000 [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] | 90% | India |
2 | London | United Kingdom | Northern Europe | ONS 2021 | 3,576,000 [32] | 40.6% | India |
3 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | Greater Middle East | Government of Dubai 2021 | 3,200,000 [33] | 91.4% | India |
4 | New York | United States | North America | 2022 ACS | 3,133,149 [34] | 36.3% | Jamaica |
5 | Sydney | Australia | Oceania | 2021 Australian Census | 2,260,410 [35] | 43.2% | China |
6 | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates | Greater Middle East | 2014 | 2,173,000 [36] | 80% | India |
7 | Kuwait City | Kuwait | Greater Middle East | 2018 | 2,088,000 [37] [38] | 69.6% | India |
8 | Melbourne | Australia | Oceania | 2021 Australian Census | 1,970,614 [39] | 40.1% | India |
9 | Doha | Qatar | Greater Middle East | 2021 | 1,768,000 [40] [41] | 88.4% | India |
10 | Lima | Peru | South America | 2023 United Nations Office of Peru | 1,586,880 [42] | 17.5% | |
11 | Toronto | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 1,431,380 [43] [a] | 51.9% | India |
12 | Los Angeles | United States | North America | 2022 ACS | 1,395,920 [44] | 36.0% | Mexico |
13 | Brisbane | Australia | Oceania | 2021 Australian Census | 799,645 [45] | 31.7% | India |
14 | Montréal | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 790,960 [46] [a] | 40.9% | France |
15 | Berlin | Germany | Western Europe | Berlin-Brandenburg office of statistics, 2021 | 789,076[ citation needed ] | 21% | Turkey |
16 | Vienna | Austria | Western Europe | City of Vienna 2023 | 778,454 [47] | 31.3% | Serbia |
17 | Madrid | Spain | Southern Europe | 2019 Spain Census | 726,669[ citation needed ] | 22.2% | Morocco |
18 | Auckland | New Zealand | Oceania | Statistics New Zealand 2018 | 714,480[ citation needed ] | 41.6% | India |
19 | Houston | United States | North America | 2022 ACS | 664,495 [48] | 28.9% | Mexico |
20 | Peshawar | Pakistan | Greater Middle East | 2005 | 611,501 [49] [50] | 19.7 | Afghanistan |
20 | Chicago | United States | North America | 2022 ACS | 550,888 [51] | 20.2% | Mexico |
21 | Calgary | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 457,665 [52] [a] | 35.4% | Philippines |
22 | San Jose | United States | North America | 2022 ACS | 410,543 [53] | 41.0% | Mexico |
23 | Mississauga | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 406,455 [54] [a] | 57% | India |
24 | Brampton | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 383,695 [55] [a] | 59.1% | India |
25 | Sao Paulo | Brazil | South America | 2019 | 362,340[ citation needed ] | 3% | Venezuela |
26 | Bogotá | Colombia | South America | 2019 | 352,431[ citation needed ] | 5% | Venezuela |
27 | San Diego | United States | North America | 2022 ACS | 344,419 [56] | 24.9% | Mexico |
28 | Edmonton | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 348,295 [57] [a] | 34.9% | India |
29 | Hamburg | Germany | Western Europe | 2021 ACS | 341,759[ citation needed ] | 24.7% | Turkey |
30 | Milan | Italy | Southern Europe | Istat 2011 | 324,378 [58] | 10.7% | Egypt |
31 | Vancouver | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 317,190 [59] [a] | 48.8% | China |
32 | Birmingham | United Kingdom | Northern Europe | ONS 2021 | 305,963[ citation needed ] | 25.6% | Pakistan |
33 | Ottawa | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 288,835 [60] | 28.9% | China |
34 | San Francisco | United States | North America | 2022 ACS | 288,169 [61] | 33.9% | China |
35 | Surrey | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 285,620 [62] [a] | 50.8% | India |
36 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | Western Europe | Statistics Netherlands 2019 | 277,431[ citation needed ] | 32.1% | Turkey |
37 | Miami | United States | North America | 2022 ACS | 256,805 [63] | 57.9% | Cuba |
38 | Stockholm | Sweden | Northern Europe | Statistics Sweden 2019 | 248,708[ citation needed ] | 25.5% | Syria |
39 | Lyon | France | Western Europe | France Unité urbaine de Lyon, INSEE 2020 | 235,969[ citation needed ] | 14% | Algeria |
40 | Winnipeg | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 231,135 [64] [a] | 31.4% | India |
41 | Santiago | Chile | South America | 2017 Census | 212,037[ citation needed ] | 10.2% | Venezuela |
42 | Marseille | France | Western Europe | Unité urbaine de Marseille-Aix, INSEE 2020 | 193,740[ citation needed ] | 12% | Algeria |
43 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | Western Europe | Statistics Netherlands 2019 | 184,218[ citation needed ] | 28.6% | Turkey |
44 | The Hague | Netherlands | Western Europe | Statistics Netherlands 2019 | 176,183[ citation needed ] | 32.8% | Indonesia |
45 | Manchester | United Kingdom | Northern Europe | ONS 2021 | 173,208[ citation needed ] | 31.4% | Pakistan |
46 | Oslo | Norway | Northern Europe | Statistics Norway 2019 | 171,868[ citation needed ] | 25.2% | Pakistan |
47 | Gothenburg | Sweden | Northern Europe | Statistics Sweden 2019 | 159,342[ citation needed ] | 27.5% | Iraq |
48 | Hamilton | Canada | North America | Canada 2021 Census | 158,190 [65] [a] | 28.2% | Italy |
49 | Copenhagen | Denmark | Northern Europe | Statistics Denmark 2022 | 134,409[ citation needed ] | 26.3% | Turkey |
50 | Malmö | Sweden | Northern Europe | Statistics Sweden 2019 | 118,323[ citation needed ] | 34.4% | Iraq |
51 | Helsinki | Finland | Northern Europe | Statistics Finland 2021 | 102,016[ citation needed ] | 15.5% | Russia |
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