International migrant stock by destination country (people living abroad)
Estimated international migrant stock by destination country (number of foreign-born residents). Country-level data for mapping, UN-based, 2020.
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Key Insights
- •The largest destination country by migrant stock is the United States (tens of millions).
- •Major Gulf destinations (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman) have very high migrant stocks relative to population.
- •Large European destinations include Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Italy (multi-million migrant stocks).
- •Migration hubs in Asia-Pacific include Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia.
- •The distribution is highly concentrated: a small number of destinations host a large share of the world’s migrants.
Country Rankings
Top 10 Countries
Bottom 10 Countries
Data Analysis
Value Distribution
How countries are distributed across the value range
Regional Comparison
Average values by world region (Global avg: 2,408,852.2people)
About This Statistic
This statistic measures the international migrant stock by destination country: the estimated number of people living in a country who were born abroad (foreign-born residents). It is widely used to compare where migrants live across the world and to map major destination countries.
The UN DESA International Migrant Stock dataset compiles and harmonizes national sources (censuses, population registers, and representative surveys) into a comparable series across countries. Values represent “stock” (a snapshot at a point in time), not annual migration “flows,” and coverage and definitions can vary somewhat depending on each country’s underlying data system.
Methodology
UN DESA compiles international migrant stock estimates by destination from official national sources (primarily censuses, population registers, and large household surveys). Where needed, the UN harmonizes data to a common reference date (typically mid-year) and a common concept of international migrant: usually foreign-born (country of birth), but in some cases citizenship is used when birth data are unavailable. The result is a destination-by-destination stock count for a given year (here: 2020).
Full Data
| Rank ↑ | Country ↕ | Value ↕ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 51,000,000.0people |
| 2 | Germany | 15,000,000.0people |
| 3 | Saudi Arabia | 13,000,000.0people |
| 4 | Russian Federation | 12,000,000.0people |
| 5 | United Kingdom | 9,500,000.0people |
| 6 | United Arab Emirates | 8,700,000.0people |
| 7 | France | 8,500,000.0people |
| 8 | Canada | 8,300,000.0people |
| 9 | Australia | 7,700,000.0people |
| 10 | Spain | 6,800,000.0people |
| 11 | Italy | 6,500,000.0people |
| 12 | Türkiye | 6,000,000.0people |
| 13 | India | 5,000,000.0people |
| 14 | Pakistan | 5,000,000.0people |
| 15 | Ukraine | 5,000,000.0people |
| 16 | Thailand | 3,900,000.0people |
| 17 | Kazakhstan | 3,800,000.0people |
| 18 | Malaysia | 3,500,000.0people |
| 19 | Jordan | 3,200,000.0people |
| 20 | Kuwait | 3,000,000.0people |
| 21 | South Africa | 3,000,000.0people |
| 22 | Japan | 2,900,000.0people |
| 23 | Islamic Republic of Iran | 2,700,000.0people |
| 24 | Switzerland | 2,600,000.0people |
| 25 | Syrian Arab Republic | 2,500,000.0people |
| 26 | Colombia | 2,400,000.0people |
| 27 | Israel | 2,400,000.0people |
| 28 | Qatar | 2,300,000.0people |
| 29 | Argentina | 2,300,000.0people |
| 30 | Cyprus | 2,200,000.0people |
| 31 | Oman | 2,200,000.0people |
| 32 | Netherlands | 2,100,000.0people |
| 33 | Singapore | 2,100,000.0people |
| 34 | Algeria | 2,100,000.0people |
| 35 | Bangladesh | 2,100,000.0people |
| 36 | Bulgaria | 2,000,000.0people |
| 37 | Sweden | 2,000,000.0people |
| 38 | Austria | 1,900,000.0people |
| 39 | Belgium | 1,700,000.0people |
| 40 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1,700,000.0people |
| 41 | Lebanon | 1,600,000.0people |
| 42 | Chile | 1,500,000.0people |
| 43 | Brazil | 1,500,000.0people |
| 44 | South Korea | 1,400,000.0people |
| 45 | Venezuela | 1,400,000.0people |
| 46 | Afghanistan | 1,400,000.0people |
| 47 | Greece | 1,300,000.0people |
| 48 | New Zealand | 1,300,000.0people |
| 49 | Nigeria | 1,300,000.0people |
| 50 | Kenya | 1,200,000.0people |
| 51 | Mexico | 1,200,000.0people |
| 52 | Uganda | 1,200,000.0people |
| 53 | Uzbekistan | 1,200,000.0people |
| 54 | Belarus | 1,100,000.0people |
| 55 | Peru | 1,100,000.0people |
| 56 | People's Republic of China | 1,000,000.0people |
| 57 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 1,000,000.0people |
| 58 | Ecuador | 1,000,000.0people |
| 59 | Georgia | 1,000,000.0people |
| 60 | Portugal | 1,000,000.0people |
| 61 | South Sudan | 1,000,000.0people |
| 62 | Cameroon | 900,000.0people |
| 63 | Norway | 900,000.0people |
| 64 | Poland | 900,000.0people |
| 65 | Croatia | 800,000.0people |
| 66 | Ireland | 800,000.0people |
| 67 | Kyrgyzstan | 800,000.0people |
| 68 | Serbia | 800,000.0people |
| 69 | Czech Republic | 700,000.0people |
| 70 | Benin | 700,000.0people |
| 71 | Guatemala | 700,000.0people |
| 72 | Libya | 700,000.0people |
| 73 | Denmark | 650,000.0people |
| 74 | Dominican Republic | 600,000.0people |
| 75 | Hungary | 600,000.0people |
| 76 | Tajikistan | 600,000.0people |
| 77 | Angola | 600,000.0people |
| 78 | Costa Rica | 500,000.0people |
| 79 | Ghana | 500,000.0people |
| 80 | Senegal | 500,000.0people |
| 81 | Tunisia | 500,000.0people |
| 82 | Egypt | 500,000.0people |
| 83 | Botswana | 500,000.0people |
| 84 | Finland | 450,000.0people |
| 85 | Republic of the Congo | 400,000.0people |
| 86 | Sri Lanka | 350,000.0people |
| 87 | Indonesia | 350,000.0people |
| 88 | Madagascar | 350,000.0people |
| 89 | Iraq | 300,000.0people |
| 90 | Luxembourg | 300,000.0people |
| 91 | Slovenia | 250,000.0people |
| 92 | The Republic of North Macedonia | 250,000.0people |
| 93 | United Republic of Tanzania | 250,000.0people |
| 94 | Estonia | 200,000.0people |
| 95 | Lithuania | 200,000.0people |
| 96 | Maldives | 200,000.0people |
| 97 | Mongolia | 200,000.0people |
| 98 | Philippines | 200,000.0people |
| 99 | Romania | 200,000.0people |
| 100 | Slovakia | 200,000.0people |
| 101 | Armenia | 200,000.0people |
| 102 | Bolivia | 160,000.0people |
| 103 | El Salvador | 150,000.0people |
| 104 | Moldova, Republic of | 120,000.0people |
| 105 | Honduras | 100,000.0people |
| 106 | Morocco | 100,000.0people |
| 107 | Vietnam | 100,000.0people |
| 108 | Yemen | 100,000.0people |
| 109 | Uruguay | 80,000.0people |
| 110 | Lao People's Democratic Republic | 60,000.0people |
| 111 | Zambia | 50,000.0people |
| 112 | Somalia | 30,000.0people |
| 113 | Albania | 30,000.0people |
| 114 | Cuba | 20,000.0people |
| 115 | Jamaica | 18,000.0people |
Topics
Data Source
This data comes from UN DESA (Population Division) (2020).
View Original Source