Foreign Born - Trends By Country

Trends By Country

The percentage of foreign born in a country is the product mostly of immigration rates, but is also effected by emigration rates and birth and death rates in the destination country. For example the United Kingdom and Ireland are destination countries for migrants from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, but are themselves source countries for immigration to other Anglosphere countries. The countries with the highest rates of immigration are wealthy countries with relatively open nationality or migration laws including Canada, Australia, and the Persian Gulf States.

The largest foreign-born population in the world is in The United States of America, which was home to 33 million foreign-residents in 2002, or 11.8% of the population. The highest percentage of foreign-born residents occurs in small, wealthy countries with large numbers of temporary foreign workers, such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the population of each is, depending on the economy at the time, around 80%. In 2010, the Migration Policy Institute reported that the largest percentages were Qatar 86.5%, UAE 70%, and 68.8%.