Top Countries with the Largest Populations Living Outside Their Home Countries

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Top 2025 Countries with the Largest Populations Living Outside Their Native Land

Brazil’s Diverse Diaspora

Brazil boasts a vibrant mix of expatriates, with the largest group being of African descent, numbering around 110 million individuals worldwide. This reflects Brazil’s historic African heritage, mainly through the transatlantic slave trade.
Italian ancestors make up about 30 million Brazilians living abroad, many residing in Italy and other parts of Europe.
Portuguese lineage accounts for approximately 25 million Brazilians living outside Brazil, underscoring the ongoing cultural ties with Portugal.
Japanese descendants, totaling around 2 million, are especially prevalent in Japan and North America.
Lebanese heritage, approximately 7 million, highlights Brazil’s longstanding Lebanese immigrant community.

United States: A Melting Pot

The USA’s largest immigrant communities include Germans with about 45 million people, followed closely by Irish at 33 million.
Mexican heritage is deeply rooted in the American fabric, with approximately 38 million people of Mexican origin residing in the U.S.
Other significant groups include Polish (9 million), Italians (17 million), and Filipino (4.5 million).
Asian communities are well-represented, with Vietnamese (2.2 million), Chinese (5.4 million), Koreans (2 million), and Indians (4.8 million).
The Caribbean influence persists through Cuban (2.4 million), Dominican (2.3 million), Jamaican (1.5 million), and Haitian (1.2 million) populations.

Argentina’s Heritage Landscape

Argentineans primarily descend from Italian (25 million) and Spanish (20 million) ancestors, revealing its European roots.
German heritage is significant with about 3 million people.
Lebanese and Syrian descendants comprise approximately 3.5 million, illustrating Middle Eastern migration influence.

European Nations and Their Emigrant Communities

France’s substantial North African diaspora includes 4 to 5 million Algerians, 3.5 million Moroccans, and smaller groups from Tunisia and Portugal.
Germany houses around 3 million Turkish descendants, extended families from Poland, and a Russian-speaking population of about 3–4 million.
The UK’s major immigrant communities are Indian (1.9 million), Pakistani (1.6 million), Bangladeshi (0.7 million), and Nigerian (0.5 million).

Canada, Australia, and Asia: Multicultural Hubs

Canada hosts about 1.9 million Indians, 1.7 million Chinese, and Ukrainian (1.4 million) immigrants, along with Filipino and Italian communities.
Australia’s population of overseas-born residents features 18 million British nationals, with notable Indian (0.9 million), Chinese (1.4 million), and Italian (1 million) origins.
Southeast and East Asian nations showcase significant Chinese communities; Indonesia (8 million), Malaysia (7 million), and Singapore (4 million) each exhibit large Chinese-descended populations.
Thailand’s Chinese ancestry accounts for around 9 million individuals.

Middle Eastern and North African Migration Patterns

Iran’s Azeri population is estimated at 15–18 million.
Turkey’s Kurdish population numbers around 15 million.
Palestinians from Jordan (3 million), Lebanon (0.5 million), and Egypt (0.5 million) contribute significantly to their diaspora.

Latin America’s Migrant Footprints

Mexico’s population abroad is primarily of Spanish descent, supplemented by Lebanese lineage (~0.6 million).
Colombia’s population includes approximately 2.5 million Venezuelan immigrants.
Chile’s German ancestry counts about 1 million.

Populations in Africa and Asia

South Africa’s 1.4 million Indian origin residents and 2 million British descendants reveal its complex colonial history.
Other countries, including Bolivia, Peru, and Venezuela, display their own distinctive immigrant communities, ranging from German to Spanish roots.

Population Clusters in the Middle East and South Asia

Saudi Arabia’s Yemeni descendants number around 2 million.
The United Arab Emirates hosts a diverse expatriate population with 3.5 million Indians, 1.5 million Pakistanis, and 1 million Bangladeshis.
Kuwait’s Egyptian expatriates are estimated at 0.6 million.

Pacific and Indian Ocean Islands

New Zealand’s diaspora is primarily of British descent, with notable Polynesian communities like Samoans (200,000).
In the Indian Ocean, Mauritius has an overwhelming 70% of its population of Indian origin, totaling roughly 1 million.

This snapshot of global populations living outside their native countries in 2025 illustrates the profound cultural diversity and migration patterns shaping our world today. These communities not only enhance their host countries’ cultural landscape but also serve as living bridges connecting regions across continents, reflecting centuries of history, economic ties, and shared heritage.

Data estimates are approximate and sourced from international census reports, migration studies, and demographic research from 2025.