Maps

Mapped: Immigration by Country, as a Percentage of the Population

Published

10 months ago

April 18, 2022

Our World in Data

Featured Creator

Article/Editing:

Jenna Ross

Immigration by Country, as a Percentage of the Population

Many people move countries for work, study, or family. However, they may also be displaced by climate change, conflict, or economic instability.

There were 272 million immigrants in 2020, amounting to 3.5% of the global population. Where do they end up?

This interactive map from Our World in Data highlights immigration by country, as a percentage of the total population, using data from the United Nations (UN) Populations Division.

What Is an Immigrant?

The UN defines an immigrant as someone who has been living in a country other than their country of birth for one year or longer. In addition to new citizens or residents, a variety of people fit under this definition:

Foreign workers
International students
Refugees

The UN also includes estimates of unauthorized immigrants living in various countries. On the flip side, tourists, temporary workers, and overseas military personnel are typically not included.

Immigration by Country Over Time

With this definition in mind, here’s a breakdown of immigration by country as a percentage of the nation’s population.

Country	1990	2020	Absolute Change	Relative Change
Afghanistan	0.47%	0.37%	-0.10 p.p.	-20%
Albania	2.01%	1.70%	-0.31 p.p.	-16%
Algeria	1.06%	0.57%	-0.49 p.p.	-46%
American Samoa	45.18%	30.35%²	-14.83 p.p.	-33%
Andorra	71.35%	58.98%	-12.37 p.p.	-17%
Angola	0.28%	2.00%	1.71 p.p.	606%
Anguilla	30.59%	33.24%²	2.66 p.p.	9%
Antigua and Barbuda	19.24%	30.01%	10.77 p.p.	56%
Argentina	5.06%	5.05%	>-0.01 p.p.	>-1%
Armenia	18.62%	6.42%	-12.20 p.p.	-65%
Aruba	22.84%	34.52%²	11.67 p.p.	51%
Australia	23.32%	30.14%	6.82 p.p.	29%
Austria	10.27%	19.30%	9.03 p.p.	88%
Azerbaijan	4.98%	2.49%	-2.49 p.p.	-50%
Bahamas	10.48%	16.17%	5.69 p.p.	54%
Bahrain	34.93%	55.01%	20.09 p.p.	58%
Bangladesh	0.85%	1.28%	0.43 p.p.	50%
Barbados	9.21%	12.13%	2.93 p.p.	32%
Belarus	12.30%	11.29%	-1.01 p.p.	-8%
Belgium	12.80%	17.30%	4.51 p.p.	35%
Belize	16.21%	15.60%	-0.61 p.p.	-4%
Benin	1.54%	3.25%	1.71 p.p.	111%
Bhutan	4.49%	6.95%	2.46 p.p.	55%
Bolivia	1.07%	1.41%	0.33 p.p.	31%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.25%	1.10%	-0.16 p.p.	-12%
Botswana	2.14%	4.69%	2.55 p.p.	119%
Brazil	0.54%	0.51%	-0.03 p.p.	-5%
Brunei	28.29%	25.59%	-2.70 p.p.	-10%
Bulgaria	0.24%	2.65%	2.41 p.p.	992%
Burkina Faso	3.97%	3.46%	-0.50 p.p.	-13%
Burundi	6.13%	2.90%	-3.23 p.p.	-53%
Cambodia	0.43%	0.47%	0.05 p.p.	11%
Cameroon	2.26%	2.18%	-0.08 p.p.	-3%
Canada	15.73%	21.33%	5.59 p.p.	36%
Cape Verde	2.64%	2.84%	0.20 p.p.	7%
Central African Republic	2.40%	1.83%	-0.56 p.p.	-23%
Chad	1.25%	3.33%	2.09 p.p.	167%
Chile	0.81%	8.61%	7.79 p.p.	962%
China	0.03%	0.07%	0.04 p.p.	125%
Colombia	0.32%	3.75%	3.43 p.p.	1089%
Comoros	3.42%	1.44%	-1.98 p.p.	-58%
Congo	5.49%	7.02%	1.53 p.p.	28%
Costa Rica	13.39%	10.22%	-3.17 p.p.	-24%
Cote d'Ivoire	15.23%	9.72%	-5.51 p.p.	-36%
Croatia	9.95%	12.86%	2.91 p.p.	29%
Cuba	0.33%	0.03%	-0.30 p.p.	-92%
Cyprus	5.71%	15.77%	10.05 p.p.	176%
Czechia	1.07%	5.05%	3.98 p.p.	373%
Democratic Republic of Congo	2.18%	1.06%	-1.11 p.p.	-51%
Denmark	4.58%	12.39%	7.81 p.p.	171%
Djibouti	20.70%	12.12%	-8.58 p.p.	-41%
Dominica	3.58%	11.51%	7.93 p.p.	222%
Dominican Republic	4.08%	5.57%	1.48 p.p.	36%
Ecuador	0.77%	4.45%	3.68 p.p.	478%
Egypt	0.31%	0.53%	0.22 p.p.	72%
El Salvador	0.90%	0.66%	-0.24 p.p.	-27%
Equatorial Guinea	0.65%	16.44%	15.78 p.p.	2413%
Eritrea	0.53%	0.39%	-0.13 p.p.	-25%
Estonia	24.41%	15.02%	-9.38 p.p.	-38%
Eswatini	9.12%	2.83%	-6.29 p.p.	-69%
Ethiopia	2.41%	0.94%	-1.47 p.p.	-61%
Faeroe Islands	9.01%	10.96%²	1.95 p.p.	22%
Falkland Islands	42.69%	50.53%²	7.84 p.p.	18%
Fiji	1.82%	1.57%	-0.25 p.p.	-14%
Finland	1.27%	6.97%	5.70 p.p.	450%
France	10.41%	13.06%	2.65 p.p.	25%
French Guiana	54.35%	41.09%²	-13.26 p.p.	-24%
Gabon	13.50%	18.72%	5.22 p.p.	39%
Gambia	12.36%	8.92%	-3.44 p.p.	-28%
Georgia	5.63%	1.99%	-3.64 p.p.	-65%
Germany	7.51%	18.81%	11.30 p.p.	151%
Ghana	1.12%	1.53%	0.42 p.p.	37%
Greece	6.04%	12.86%	6.81 p.p.	113%
Greenland	16.71%	10.52%²	-6.19 p.p.	-37%
Grenada	4.43%	6.41%	1.98 p.p.	45%
Guadeloupe	18.72%	21.13%²	2.41 p.p.	13%
Guatemala	2.85%	0.47%	-2.38 p.p.	-83%
Guinea	6.35%	0.93%	-5.43 p.p.	-85%
Guinea-Bissau	1.58%	0.91%	-0.66 p.p.	-42%
Guyana	0.55%	3.96%	3.41 p.p.	619%
Haiti	0.27%	0.17%	-0.11 p.p.	-39%
Honduras	5.46%	0.40%	-5.06 p.p.	-93%
Hong Kong	38.73%	39.52%	0.78 p.p.	2%
Hungary	3.35%	6.05%	2.70 p.p.	81%
Iceland	3.76%	19.17%	15.41 p.p.	410%
India	0.87%	0.35%	-0.52 p.p.	-59%
Indonesia	0.26%	0.13%	-0.13 p.p.	-49%
Iran	7.61%	3.33%	-4.28 p.p.	-56%
Iraq	0.48%	0.91%	0.43 p.p.	89%
Ireland	6.49%	17.64%	11.15 p.p.	172%
Israel	36.70%	22.57%	-14.13 p.p.	-39%
Italy	2.50%	10.56%	8.06 p.p.	322%
Jamaica	0.85%	0.80%	-0.05 p.p.	-6%
Japan	0.86%	2.19%	1.33 p.p.	154%
Jordan	32.15%	33.89%	1.74 p.p.	5%
Kazakhstan	22.09%	19.88%	-2.21 p.p.	-10%
Kenya	1.26%	1.95%	0.70 p.p.	55%
Kiribati	2.99%	2.62%	-0.37 p.p.	-12%
Kuwait	51.27%	72.83%	21.55 p.p.	42%
Kyrgyzstan	14.25%	3.05%	-11.20 p.p.	-79%
Laos	0.54%	0.67%	0.13 p.p.	25%
Latvia	24.25%	12.69%	-11.55 p.p.	-48%
Lebanon	18.68%	25.09%	6.41 p.p.	34%
Lesotho	0.48%	0.56%	0.08 p.p.	16%
Liberia	4.58%	1.74%	-2.84 p.p.	-62%
Libya	10.30%	12.03%	1.73 p.p.	17%
Liechtenstein	37.88%	67.85%	29.97 p.p.	79%
Lithuania	9.45%	5.33%	-4.12 p.p.	-44%
Luxembourg	29.81%	47.62%	17.81 p.p.	60%
Madagascar	0.21%	0.13%	-0.08 p.p.	-38%
Malawi	11.99%	1.00%	-10.99 p.p.	-92%
Malaysia	3.86%	10.74%	6.88 p.p.	178%
Maldives	3.89%	12.96%	9.07 p.p.	233%
Mali	1.90%	2.40%	0.50 p.p.	26%
Malta	4.17%	25.99%	21.83 p.p.	524%
Marshall Islands	2.45%	5.57%	3.12 p.p.	127%
Martinique	10.77%	16.75%²	5.98 p.p.	55%
Mauritania	5.49%	3.92%	-1.57 p.p.	-29%
Mauritius	0.34%	2.27%	1.93 p.p.	564%
Mexico	0.83%	0.93%	0.10 p.p.	12%
Moldova	12.46%	2.59%	-9.88 p.p.	-79%
Monaco	69.17%	67.78%	-1.39 p.p.	-2%
Mongolia	0.31%	0.65%	0.34 p.p.	111%
Montenegro	12.58%¹	11.30%	-1.27 p.p.	-10%
Montserrat	18.76%	21.79%²	3.03 p.p.	16%
Morocco	0.22%	0.28%	0.06 p.p.	25%
Mozambique	0.94%	1.08%	0.14 p.p.	15%
Myanmar	0.32%	0.14%	-0.18 p.p.	-56%
Namibia	8.42%	4.30%	-4.11 p.p.	-49%
Nauru	29.61%	20.32%	-9.30 p.p.	-31%
Nepal	2.27%	1.67%	-0.60 p.p.	-26%
Netherlands	7.90%	13.76%	5.86 p.p.	74%
New Caledonia	22.20%	25.45%²	3.25 p.p.	15%
New Zealand	15.24%	28.65%	13.41 p.p.	88%
Nicaragua	0.99%	0.64%	-0.35 p.p.	-36%
Niger	1.44%	1.44%	>-0.01 p.p.	>-1%
Nigeria	0.48%	0.64%	0.16 p.p.	32%
North Korea	0.17%	0.19%	0.02 p.p.	14%
North Macedonia	4.77%	6.30%	1.54 p.p.	32%
Norway	4.53%	15.72%	11.19 p.p.	247%
Oman	16.78%	46.47%	29.69 p.p.	177%
Pakistan	5.77%	1.48%	-4.28 p.p.	-74%
Palau	18.59%	28.12%	9.53 p.p.	51%
Palestine	13.72%	5.35%	-8.37 p.p.	-61%
Panama	2.54%	7.26%	4.72 p.p.	186%
Papua New Guinea	0.73%	0.35%	-0.38 p.p.	-52%
Paraguay	4.64%	2.38%	-2.26 p.p.	-49%
Peru	0.26%	3.71%	3.46 p.p.	1345%
Philip.p.ines	0.25%	0.21%	-0.04 p.p.	-17%
Poland	2.97%	2.16%	-0.81 p.p.	-27%
Portugal	4.40%	9.83%	5.42 p.p.	123%
Puerto Rico	9.12%	7.59%²	-1.53 p.p.	-17%
Qatar	65.04%	77.27%	12.23 p.p.	19%
Reunion	9.47%	14.39%²	4.91 p.p.	52%
Romania	0.58%	3.67%	3.09 p.p.	534%
Russia	7.81%	7.97%	0.16 p.p.	2%
Rwanda	2.19%	3.97%	1.77 p.p.	81%
Saint Kitts and Nevis	7.97%	14.52%	6.55 p.p.	82%
Saint Lucia	3.84%	4.54%	0.70 p.p.	18%
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	19.69%	19.14%²	-0.55 p.p.	-3%
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	3.69%	4.27%	0.58 p.p.	16%
Samoa	2.06%	2.03%	-0.03 p.p.	-2%
San Marino	13.72%	16.33%	2.61 p.p.	19%
Sao Tome and Principe	4.68%	0.98%	-3.71 p.p.	-79%
Saudi Arabia	30.79%	38.65%	7.86 p.p.	26%
Senegal	3.59%	1.64%	-1.95 p.p.	-54%
Serbia	1.04%	9.42%	8.38 p.p.	803%
Seychelles	5.27%	13.27%	8.00 p.p.	152%
Sierra Leone	5.14%	0.67%	-4.47 p.p.	-87%
Singapore	24.14%	43.14%	19.00 p.p.	79%
Slovakia	0.78%	3.61%	2.83 p.p.	362%
Slovenia	8.88%	13.37%	4.50 p.p.	51%
Solomon Islands	1.35%	0.37%	-0.99 p.p.	-73%
Somalia	6.62%	0.37%	-6.25 p.p.	-94%
South Africa	3.16%	4.82%	1.66 p.p.	52%
South Korea	0.10%	3.37%	3.27 p.p.	3238%
South Sudan	2.43%¹	7.88%	5.46 p.p.	225%
Spain	2.10%	14.63%	12.54 p.p.	598%
Sri Lanka	0.24%	0.19%	-0.05 p.p.	-22%
Sudan	6.96%	3.15%	-3.82 p.p.	-55%
Suriname	4.46%	8.15%	3.68 p.p.	83%
Sweden	9.21%	19.84%	10.63 p.p.	116%
Switzerland	20.93%	28.79%	7.86 p.p.	38%
Syria	5.74%	4.96%	-0.77 p.p.	-13%
Tajikistan	8.12%	2.89%	-5.22 p.p.	-64%
Tanzania	2.28%	0.71%	-1.56 p.p.	-69%
Thailand	0.94%	5.20%	4.27 p.p.	457%
Togo	2.25%	3.38%	1.13 p.p.	50%
Tonga	3.06%	3.54%	0.48 p.p.	16%
Trinidad and Tobago	4.15%	5.63%	1.49 p.p.	36%
Tunisia	0.46%	0.51%	0.05 p.p.	10%
Turkey	2.16%	7.18%	5.02 p.p.	233%
Turkmenistan	8.32%	3.23%	-5.09 p.p.	-61%
Tuvalu	3.57%	2.03%	-1.54 p.p.	-43%
Uganda	3.14%	3.76%	0.63 p.p.	20%
Ukraine	13.39%	11.43%	-1.97 p.p.	-15%
United Arab Emirates	71.46%	88.13%	16.67 p.p.	23%
United Kingdom	6.39%	13.79%	7.40 p.p.	116%
United States	9.22%	15.30%	6.08 p.p.	66%
Uruguay	3.15%	3.12%	-0.04 p.p.	-1%
Uzbekistan	8.10%	3.47%	-4.63 p.p.	-57%
Vanuatu	1.57%	1.06%	-0.51 p.p.	-33%
Venezuela	5.22%	4.66%	-0.56 p.p.	-11%
Vietnam	0.04%	0.08%	0.04 p.p.	93%
Western Sahara	0.97%	0.83%²	-0.14 p.p.	-15%
World	2.87%	3.60%	0.73 p.p.	25%
Yemen	1.01%	1.30%	0.28 p.p.	28%
Zambia	3.48%	1.02%	-2.46 p.p.	-71%
Zimbabwe	6.08%	2.80%	-3.28 p.p.	-54%

¹Data as of 2010 due to data availability
²Data as of 2015 due to data availability

Higher immigration levels are generally correlated with higher standards of living and advanced economies. For instance, North America, Europe, and Oceania all have a relatively high proportion of immigrants.

The United States is home to the largest number of immigrants—over 50 million—which now make up 15% of the country’s population. Since 1990, the proportion of immigrants in the country has continued to rise. As with most advanced economies, immigration has helped to counter a decline in fertility rates.

Over the last 30 years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has had the highest immigration by country, with 88% of its population being defined as immigrants in 2020. The country has the highest GDP per capita of any of its neighboring countries, and draws many migrant workers.

Meanwhile, South Korea has seen the largest relative increase in immigrants over the last three decades. Faced with the lowest fertility rate in the world and an aging population, the country has enacted policy reforms to encourage immigration, including a formal guest worker program and local voting rights for permanent foreign residents.

Integration or Separation?

Immigrants can help fill labor gaps and drive economic innovation in their new country of residence. Depending on their destination, they may benefit from things like higher pay, access to better education, and a more stable political climate.

Notably, countries respond to immigration in different ways. In one study measuring what governments are doing to integrate migrants, Sweden ranked at the top. The country offers non-EU citizens equal access to education, labor market rights and its social safety net, and it also has strong anti-discrimination laws.

On the flip side, immigrants may face challenges integrating into other countries. For instance, the UAE’s kafala (sponsorship) system is structured so that employment visas are granted by local individuals or companies rather than the state. This gives employers enhanced power over their workers, and in the past it has resulted in alleged human rights abuses.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

Related Topics:migrants immigration our world in data immigrants immigration per capita migrant workers foreign residents

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Demographics

Mapped: The Population of India’s States Compared with Countries

This map juxtaposes nations and Indian states to provide a new perspective on the world’s soon-to-be most populous country

Published

2 months ago

December 18, 2022

Nick Routley

The Population of India’s States Compared with Countries

In a world with eight billion people, even the numbers of the largest population centers like China and India can start to lose their impact.

The visualization above looks to give people a different frame of reference to think about the country’s massive population figures.

The Population Breakdown

Similar to other big countries, the gap between India’s largest and smallest states is quite wide.

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous country subdivision in the world at 232 million people, while Sikkim, in the northeast of the country, is the least populated state in India (0.7 million).

Here are India’s 28 states and 8 union territories compared to other countries and territories with comparable sizes:

State	Population (2022)	Country	Population (2022)
Uttar Pradesh	232M	🇧🇷 Brazil + 🇪🇨 Ecuador	234M
Bihar	129M	🇲🇽 Mexico	132M
Maharashtra	125M	🇯🇵 Japan	126M
West Bengal	101M	🇪🇬 Egypt	107M
Madhya Pradesh	85M	🇹🇷 Turkey	87M
Tamil Nadu	84M	🇩🇪 Germany	84M
Rajasthan	80M	🇺🇦 Ukraine + 🇵🇱 Poland	81M
Gujarat	70M	🇹🇭 Thailand	70M
Karnataka	70M	🇬🇧 UK	69M
Andhra Pradesh	54M	🇲🇲 Myanmar	55M
Odisha	47M	🇪🇸 Spain	47M
Jharkhand	40M	🇮🇶 Iraq	42M
Telangana	38M	🇲🇾 Malaysia + 🇸🇬 Singapore	39M
Assam	36M	🇨🇦 Canada	39M
Kerala	35M	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	36M
Chhattisgarh	32M	🇵🇪 Peru	34M
Punjab	31M	🇦🇺 Australia + 🇳🇿 New Zealand	31M
Haryana	29M	🇻🇪 Venezuela	28M
Delhi	19M	🇷🇴 Romania	19M
Jammu and Kashmir	15M	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	15M
Uttarakhand	12M	🇧🇴 Bolivia	12M
Himachal Pradesh	7.5M	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	7.6M
Tripura	4.2M	🇭🇷 Croatia	4.0M
Meghalaya	3.8M	🇪🇷 Eritrea	3.7M
Manipur	3.4M	🇺🇾 Uruguay	3.5M
Nagaland	2.1M	🇸🇮 Slovenia	2.1M
Puducherry	1.6M	🇧🇭 Bahrain	1.8M
Arunachal Pradesh	1.7M	🇱🇻 Latvia	1.8M
Goa	1.5M	🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea	1.5M
Mizoram	1.3M	🇪🇪 Estonia	1.3M
Chandigarh	1.2M	🇨🇾 Cyprus	1.3M
Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu	0.8M	🇬🇾 Guyana	0.8M
Sikkim	0.7M	🇲🇴 Macao	0.7M
Andaman & Nicobar Islands	0.4M	🇧🇸 Bahamas	0.4M
Lakshadweep	0.07M	🇰🇾 Cayman Islands	0.07M

Hypothetically, if India’s states were to all became countries today, they would take up half the spots in a ranking of the world’s top 20 most populous countries.

A number of Indian states match up evenly against some very large countries, including Maharashtra (Japan), West Bengal (Egypt), and Tamil Nadu (Germany). Of course, the largest is Uttar Pradesh (Brazil+Chile), which also happens to measure up to neighboring Pakistan.

For people living in countries such as Canada or Australia, it may be humbling to know that these countries are equal to a smallish Indian state.

The Big Get Bigger

According to United Nations projections, India is on track to become the most populous country in the world in 2023.

The population of India’s growth is fueled by several factors, including declining mortality rates, increased life expectancy, and high birth rates. While India’s population growth has slowed in recent years due to factors such as urbanization and increasing access to contraception, the country’s population is still expected to continue growing at a significant rate for the foreseeable future.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Population projections for India are from indiacensus.net. Population figures for comparison countries are from the UN’s World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision (medium-fertility variant), accessed via Worldometers‘ live tracker. All population figures shown are 2022 projections.

Data note: Because there are only so many countries, the populations of comparison countries may not perfectly match that of the various Indian states and union territories. Numbers are rounded.

Map note: A number of borders and regions in India are disputed with other countries. Our depiction of borders is a good faith, apolitical attempt at reflecting the “de facto” situation in each region.