Monoethnicity

Monoethnicity is the existence of a single ethnic group in a given region or country. It is the opposite of polyethnicity.

An example of a largely monoethnic country is Japan. It is a common belief in Japan that the entire country is monoethnic, but a few ethnic minorities live in Japan (e.g. Koreans, Ainus, and Ryukyuans). ^[1] They represent around 2.3% of the whole population. ^[2]

South Korea is another monoethnic country. There are small ethnic minorities that exist in South Korea, where they account for around 5.2% of the South Korean population. These include around 900,000 Chinese immigrants. ^[3]

Most African countries have what would be considered a mono-racial society, but it is common to find dozens of ethnic groups within the same country.

The Yugoslav Wars are noted as having made Yugoslavia's successor states "de facto and de jure monoethnic nation-states", ^[4] with Bosnia and Herzegovina further diving itself into mono-ethnic enclaves. ^[5]

Because not all countries collect data on ethnicity, and the collection of data usually relies on self-reporting, it can be difficult to discern how monoethnic a country is.

Monoethnic countries with more than 85% homogenity

Sovereign states

Rank	Country	Population	Dominant group	%	Notes	Ref
1	North Korea	26,298,666	Korean	99.998%		[6]
2	Egypt	111,247,248	Egyptian	99.7%		[7]
3	Lesotho	2,227,548	Basotho	99.7%		[8]
4	Algeria	47,022,473	Arab-Amazigh	99%	Although almost all Algerians are Amazigh in origin and not Arab, only a minority identify themselves as primarily Amazigh	[9]
5	Bangladesh	168,697,184	Bengali	99%		[10]
6	Morocco	37,387,585	Arab-Amazigh	99%	Does not include data from Western Sahara	[11]
7	Vanuatu	318,007	Ni-Vanuatu	99%		[12]
8	Armenia	2,976,765	Armenian	98.1%		[13]
9	Tunisia	12,048,847	Arab-Amazigh	98%		[14]
10	Albania	3,107,100	Albanian	98%		[15]
11	Japan	123,201,945	Japanese	97.5%		[16]
12	Poland	38,746,310	Polish	96.9%	This number represents the percentage of people who indicated Polish as their primary ethnicity	[17]
13	Tonga	104,889	Tongan	96.5%		[18]
14	Kiribati	116,545	I-Kiribati	95.78%		[19]
15	Marshall Islands	82,011	Marshallese	95.6%		[20]
16	Cambodia	17,063,669	Khmer	95.4%		[21]
17	Solomon Islands	726,799	Melanesian	95.4%		[22]
18	Lebanon	5,364,482	Levantine	95%		[23]
19	Portugal	10,207,177	Portuguese	95%		[24]
20	South Korea	51,217,221	Koreans	94.8%		[25]
21	Nauru	9,892	Nauruan	94.6%		[26]
22	Azerbaijan	10,650,239	Azerbaijani	91.6%		[27]
23	Croatia	4,150,116	Croatian	91.6%		[28]
24	China	1,416,043,270	Han Chinese	91.1%		[29]
25	Italy	58,947,905	Italian	91%		[30]
26	Saudi Arabia	36,544,431	Arab	90%		[31]
27	Finland	5,603,851	Finns	89.8%		[32]
28	Romania	18,148,155	Romanian	89.3%	Data represents only those who declared an ethnicity in the 2021 census	[33]
29	Turkmenistan	5,744,151	Turkmen	87.6%		[34]
30	Georgia	4,900,961	Georgian	86.8%		[35]
31	Vietnam	105,758,975	Viet	85.3%		[36]

Unrecognized states and dependent territories

Country	Population	Dominant group	%	Ref
Palestine	5,483,450	Palestinian	91%	[37] [38]
Northern Cyprus	265,100	Turkish Cypriots	99.2%	[39]
Somalia	18,500,000	Somalis	99%	[40]
Republic of China (Taiwan)	23,347,374	Han Chinese	97%	[41] [42]
Hong Kong	7,249,907	Cantonese people and Taishanese people	92%	[43]
Kosovo	1,586,659	Albanians	92%	[44]
Greenland	55,877	Inuit	89.7%	[45]
South Ossetia	53,532	Ossetians	89.9%	[46]
Macau	614,458	Cantonese people and Macanese people	88.7%	[47]
Åland	30,696	Ålanders	86.5%	[48]

See also

• Ethnic cleansing
• Ethnic nationalism
• Ethnocracy
• Homogeneous
• Titular nation

References

1. Arakaki, Osamu (2008), Refugee Law and Practice in Japan, Ashgate Publishing, p. 36, ISBN   978-0754670094
2. (in Japanese) Archived 14 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine 平成２４年末現在における外国人登録者統計について].
3. "Trying to teach South Korea about discrimination", The Los Angeles Times, 24 February 2009
4. Dempsey, Gary (2002), Exiting the Balkan Thicket, Cato Institute, pp. 91–, ISBN   978-1-930865-17-4
5. Memisevic, Ehlimana (5 December 2022). "How Bosnia and Herzegovina is enshrining discrimination". Middle East Eye . Retrieved 17 March 2023.
6. North Korea - CIA World Factbook
7. Egypt - CIA World Factbook
8. Lesotho - CIA World Factbook
9. "Algeria - CIA World Factbook", www.cia.gov, retrieved 25 November 2024
10. "Bangladesh - CIA World Factbook", www.cia.gov, retrieved 25 November 2024
11. "Morocco - CIA World Factbook", CIA.gov, 25 November 2024
12. "Vanuatu - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook , CIA, 25 November 2024, Ni-Vanuatu 99%, other 1% (European, Asian, other Melanesian, Polynesian, Micronesian, other) (2020 est.))
13. "Armenia - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook , Central Intelligence Agency, 25 November 2024
14. "Tunisia - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook , Central Intelligence Agency, 25 November 2024
15. "Minority Rights and the Republic of Albania: Missing the Implementation", lup.lub.lu.se, p. 11, From the ethnic point of view, according to the Albanian government's reports, 98 percent of the population is Albanian and only two percent consist of Greek, Macedonian, Montenegrin recognized as national Minorities and Roma, Aromaninan recognized as ethnic - linguistic Minorities by the Albanian state.
16. "Japan - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook , CIA, 25 November 2024
17. "Poland - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook , CIA, 25 November 2024, represents ethnicity declared first
18. "Tonga - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook , CIA, 25 November 2024
19. "Kiribati - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook , CIA, 15 November 2024
20. Marshall Islands- CIA World Factbook
21. Cambodia- CIA World Factbook
22. Solomon Islands- CIA World Factbook
23. "Lebanon - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook , Central Intelligence Agency, 25 November 2024
24. "Portugal - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook , Central Intelligence Agency, 25 November 2024
25. "출입국통계". Ministry of Justice (in Korean). Retrieved April 4, 2025.
26. "Nauru - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook , Central Intelligence Agency, 25 November 2024
27. Azerbaijan - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024
28. Croatia - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024
29. China - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024
30. "Indicatori demografici, anno 2020" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
31. Saudi Arabia - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024
32. "Population growth biggest in nearly 70 years | Statistics Finland". stat.fi. 26 April 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
33. Romania - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024
34. Turkmenistan - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024
35. Georgia - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024
36. Vietnam - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024
37. "Gaza Strip", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 28 November 2023, retrieved 4 December 2023
38. "West Bank", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 14 November 2023, retrieved 4 December 2023
39. Tablo – 8 : Yaş Grubu, Milliyet ve Cinsiyete Göre Sürekli İkamet Eden (de-jure) KKTC Vatandaşı Nüfus. TOPLAM, archived from the original on 14 March 2016, retrieved 12 February 2019
40. "A look at Somaliland between clan politics, regional turmoil and November elections", New Internationalist, 1 October 2017, retrieved 12 July 2021
41. "中華民國行政院全球資訊網". 2.16.886.101.20003 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 1 December 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
42. "中華民國 內政部戶政司 全球資訊網". 中華民國內政部戶政司. 1 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
43. "Hong Kong", The World Factbook , CIA , retrieved 16 February 2020
44. "Population and housing census in Kosovo" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2024.
45. "North America :: Greenland – The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency", www.cia.gov, retrieved 7 February 2020
46. South Ossetia – Ethnic composition: 2015 census, archived from the original on 6 July 2018, retrieved 16 July 2018
47. "Macau", The World Factbook , CIA , retrieved 9 June 2020
48. "Åland", ÅSUB, retrieved 5 November 2024