Romania, Croatia, and Bulgaria were the three EU member states with the highest number of their citizens living abroad in other EU countries, when compared with the size of their national populations. In 2023, an equivalent of 16.5% of the population of Romania lived in other EU states, as the south-eastern European country has seen mass migration since joining the EU in 2007. Interestingly the top three countries were also the last three countries to join the EU, with Bulgaria and Romania joining in 2007 and Croatia in 2013. Germany, Malta and Sweden, on the other hand, had an equivalent of less than one percent of their population living in other EU countries.

As of 2023, Romania was the EU country which had the greatest number of its citizens living in other member states of the EU, with 3.15 Romanian citizens living abroad. The south-eastern European country has seen mass emigration since it joined the EU in 2007, as its citizens have migrated to wealthier member states to live and work. Poland, which has had a similar experience with its citizens emigrating since joining the EU in 2004, is the country with the third highest number of citizens living in other EU countries, wtih almost 1.5 million. Other countries with large number of citizens living abroad include Italy, with almost 1.5 million, and Portugal, with over 980,000. While the two largest member states in the EU in terms of population, Germany and France, have 774,016 and 623,180 of their citizens living elsewhere in the EU respectively, these figures pale in comparison on a per capita level with countries such as Bulgaria and Croatia. Bulgaria, which joined the EU along with Romania in 2007, has 836,065 of its citizens living abroad, which is remarkable considering the country has a population of roughly seven million people. Croatia, the most recent member state to join the EU, has 563,773 of its citizens abroad, with a population at home of less than four million people.

As of 2023, more than 6.1 million Italians lived abroad. In particular, the largest community of migrants was in Argentina, as this country was hosting around 953,000 Italian citizens. Two European states followed in the ranking, Germany and Switzerland, while Brazil had the fourth-largest Italian emigrated population. In total, about 3.32 million emigrants lived in other European countries, while 2.5 million resided in the Americas.

The United States hosted, by far, the highest number of immigrants in the world in 2020. That year, there were over ** million people born outside of the States residing in the country. Germany and Saudi Arabia followed behind at around ** and ** million, respectively. There are varying reasons for people to emigrate from their country of origin, from poverty and unemployment to war and persecution. American Migration People migrate to the United States for a variety of reasons, from job and educational opportunities to family reunification. Overall, in 2021, most people that became legal residents of the United States did so for family reunification purposes, totaling ******* people that year. An additional ******* people became legal residents through employment opportunities. In terms of naturalized citizenship, ******* people from Mexico became naturalized American citizens in 2021, followed by people from India, the Philippines, Cuba, and China. German Migration Behind the United States, Germany also has a significant migrant population. Migration to Germany increased during the mid-2010's, in light of the Syrian Civil War and refugee crisis, and during the 2020’s, in light of conflict in Afghanistan and Ukraine. Moreover, as German society continues to age, there are less workers in the labor market. In a low-migration scenario, Germany will have **** million skilled workers by 2040, compared to **** million by 2040 in a high-migration scenario. In both scenarios, this is still a decrease from **** skilled workers in 2020.

Among countries with the highest number of overseas Chinese on each continent, the largest Chinese diaspora community is living in Indonesia, numbering more than ten million people. Most of these people are descendants from migrants born in China, who have moved to Indonesia a long time ago. On the contrary, a large part of overseas Chinese living in Canada and Australia have arrived in these countries only during the last two decades. China as an emigration country Many Chinese people have emigrated from their home country in search of better living conditions and educational chances. The increasing number of Chinese emigrants has benefited from loosened migration policies. On the one hand, the attitude of the Chinese government towards emigration has changed significantly. Overseas Chinese are considered to be strong supporters for the overall strength of Chinese culture and international influence. On the other hand, migration policies in the United States and Canada are changing with time, expanding migration opportunities for non-European immigrants. As a result, China has become one of the world’s largest emigration countries as well as the country with the highest outflows of high net worth individuals. However, the mass emigration is causing a severe loss of homegrown talents and assets. The problem of talent and wealth outflow has raised pressing questions to the Chinese government, and a solution to this issue is yet to be determined. Popular destinations among Chinese emigrants Over the last decades, English speaking developed countries have been popular destinations for Chinese emigrants. In 2022 alone, the number of people from China naturalized as U.S. citizens had amounted to over 27,000 people, while nearly 68,000 had obtained legal permanent resident status as “green card” recipients. Among other popular immigration destinations for Chinese riches are Canada, Australia, Europe, and Singapore.

In 2023, it was estimated that more than four million Brazilians were living outside Brazil. The United States had the largest community, with over two million Brazilian citizens. Portugal was the second country with the largest Brazilian community, namely 513,000 citizens. Brazilians abroad The Brazilian community sought economic opportunities in the United States in the 1980s, leading to the establishment of communities in New York and Boston. Facilitated by the common language and Portugal's favorable laws for the Community of Portuguese-speaking countries, Lisbon became the most popular destination in Europe. This city harbors more than 77,000 Brazilians, with women making up the majority of these. Immigration in Brazil Although more than four million Brazilians live outside of Brazil, the country has had a positive migration rate since 2010, meaning that more people are arriving than leaving. One factor contributing to this is the current humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, which has increased the number of refugees arriving in Brazil each year.

Argentina has the largest Italian population outside of Italy, with around 1.17 million Italians residing in the South American country as of 2023. This community represented almost one fifth of all citizens residing outside the Republic, seven million. Germany hosted the second-largest community, with about 900,000 Italians, while in Brazil lived around 790,000 people with Italian citizenship. In total, three million Italians resided in the Americas, whereas 3.5 million in other European countries. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Argentina was one of the main destinations for Italian emigrants, in particular in the early 1900s. Increasing tendency to emigrate  Between 2006 and 2020, the number of Italians living abroad constantly increased. As of 2020, over five million Italians lived outside their homeland. Data related to the educational level of the emigrated population show that one third of the academics decided to leave the country. In 2017, 32.5 percent of Italians holding a university degree did not reside in Italy. Better jobs and lower taxes  When asked about the reasons why leaving their country, the opportunity to pay lower taxes and have better jobs played an important role. Indeed, about 43 percent of Italians declared to be ready to leave Italy for a place where taxes were lower. In addition, roughly 37 percent could leave Italy for better working chances.

As of 2020, the United States of America was the most common country of birth of residents in Mexico who were not born in the Latin American country. A total of approximately 797,000 persons lived in Mexico having being born in the nothern neighbour country. Guatemala and Venezuela ranked as the second and third most common countries of origin.

This statistic shows the international migrant stock worldwide as a percentage of the global population from 1990 to 2015. In 2015, the international migrant stock accounted fro 3.3 of the world population.

As of October 2024, the United States had nearly ******* Japanese citizens, making it the country with the highest number of Japanese residents outside of Japan itself. The United States counted around **** times as many Japanese citizens as second-placed *********.  Japanese immigrants in the United States Lately, there has been an increase in the migration of Japanese individuals, especially to the United States, which has *********** immigrant population worldwide. This surge in Japanese migration to the United States can largely be attributed to the substantial presence of Japanese companies with offices in the country, which ranks among the highest globally. Consequently, many Japanese nationals choose to relocate to the United States in pursuit of employment opportunities offered by these companies.  Status of immigrants in Japan The total number of foreign residents in Japan has been rising lately, with ***** having the highest number of foreign nationals registered among 47 prefectures. The main nationality of foreign residents living in Japan are people from the ********************************************* The increasing number of foreign nationals working in Japan is indicative of the growing interest in job opportunities within the country.

In 2020, cumulative Egyptian emigrants amounted to roughly 3.6 million. Of these, the vast majority settled in Saudi Arabia, followed by the United Arab Emirates, amounting to roughly 960 thousand and 900 thousand, respectively. The two countries alone constituted over 51 percent of the total Egyptian migrants outside of Egypt. Moreover, the third major country of destination for Egyptians was Kuwait with about 421 thousand people living there. Overall, the 16 countries presented covered 94 percent of all Egyptian migrants.

Migrants from the United Kingdom have long been Australia’s primary immigrant group and in 2023 there were roughly 960 thousand English-born people living in Australia. India and China held second and third place respectively with regard to Australia’s foreign-born population. The relative dominance of Asian countries in the list of top ten foreign-born residents of Australia represents a significant shift in Australia’s immigration patterns over the past few decades. Where European-born migrants had previously overshadowed other migrant groups, Australian migration figures are now showing greater migration numbers from neighboring countries in Asia and the Pacific. A history of migration Australia is often referred to as an ‘immigrant nation’, alongside the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Before the Second World War, migrants to Australia were almost exclusively from the UK, however after 1945, Australia’s immigration policy was broadened to attract economic migrants and temporary skilled migrants. These policy changes saw and increase in immigrants particularly from Greece and Italy. Today, Australia maintains its status as an ‘’Immigrant nation’’, with almost 30 percent of the population born overseas and around 50 percent of the population having both that were born overseas. Australian visas The Australian immigration program has two main categories of visa, permanent and temporary. The permanent visa category offers three primary pathways: skilled, family and humanitarian. The skilled visa category is by far the most common, with more than a million permanent migrants living in Australia on this visa category at the last Australian census in 2021. Of the temporary visa categories, the higher education visa is the most popular, exceeding 180 thousand arrivals in 2023.

This statistic shows the number of immigrants from Hong Kong living abroad in 2017, by country of destination. That year, around 100,000 people from Hong Kong lived Australia.

As of January 2019, Belgium was the country in which Italians living abroad stayed longer. More specifically, 66 percent of Italians reported to live in Belgium have lived there for more than 15 years. Moreover, Switzerland represented the second country for length of stay.

In 2019, the Registry of Italians Resident Abroad (A.I.R.E.) recorded 2.9 million people living in another European country. Indeed, 1.9 million individuals have lived there for more than ten years.

This graph depicts the distribution of the number of French expatriates across the world in 2021, by host country. With more than 174,800 French people living there, Switzerland was the most popular country among French expatriates. The United States came second with more than 136,500 French expatriates, followed by the United Kingdom.

As of May 2024, a total of *** million Indian migrants were estimated to live in the United States of America, followed by over ***** million in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). India has over ** million overseas Indians living across the world.

South Africa had the highest number of immigrants among all African countries as of July 2020, hosting *** million people. Côte d'Ivoire followed with *** million international migrants. Among the macro-regions, Eastern Africa hosted the highest number of international migrants in Africa, with **** million. Western Africa followed with some **** million migrants.

In 2023, the total number of people who emigrated from South Korea amounted to around seven million. More than 2.6 million lived in the United States, followed by China with around 2.1 million.

The United States reported the highest number of emigrants from the Philippines in 2022, with about **** thousand Filipinos choosing to live there permanently. In comparison, Spain had *** Filipino emigrants that year.An emigrant is a person who has left their country to live permanently in another.

In 2020, cumulative South African emigrants amounted to roughly 915,000. The vast majority settled in the United Kingdom (around 247,000), followed by Australia (nearly 200,000). Together, the two countries constituted roughly 49 percent of the total South African migrants living abroad. Moreover, the third major country of destination for South Africans was the United States, with about 117,000 people living there. Overall, the 21 countries presented covered 94.4 percent of all South African migrants.

Language: a primary driver of emigration destinations

Language is a factor that helps ease communication and integration for individuals within a new society. Noticeably, the five leading destinations for South African emigrants had English as an official language. In South Africa, English was the second most spoken language outside households. Furthermore, the Netherlands ranked seventh, which language can also justify. Afrikaans, a language developed from 17th-century Dutch, was the third most spoken language among households in South Africa.

Unemployment a major worry and prevalent among youth    

A real worry for South Africans in 2022 was unemployment. As of April 2022, 64 percent of the respondents of a survey reported concern regarding the job market and the unemployment situation in the country. As of the first quarter of 2022, the unemployment rate among the age groups 15-24 years and 25-34 years was significantly higher than the rest, reaching 63.9 percent and 42.1 percent, respectively.