Mapped: Countries with the Largest Emigrant Populations

Mapped: Countries with the Largest Emigrant Populations

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Migration is often viewed through the lens of immigration (people arriving in a country). But what about those leaving?

This infographic by Iswardi Ishak, using data from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, maps the countries with the highest number of citizens living abroad in 2024.

What is Emigration, and Why Does It Matter?

Simply put, emigration is the opposite of immigration. It refers to the act of leaving one’s country to live elsewhere. While commonly discussed in regions receiving migrants, emigration has major impacts on origin countries too, from remittances to brain drain.

The reasons for leaving vary. Common “push factors” include poverty, violence, corruption, and climate change. Conversely, “pull factors” are driven by better education, jobs, healthcare, and safety abroad.

Ranked: Top Countries by Emigrant Populations

The table below lists the top countries with the highest number of emigrants around the world.

Rank	Country/Territory	Emigrants	Total Population	Emigrants as % of Total Pop
1	India	18,533,845	1,450,935,791	1.3%
2	China	11,701,619	1,419,321,278	0.8%
3	Mexico	11,596,529	130,861,007	8.9%
4	Ukraine	9,769,216	37,860,222	25.8%
5	Russia	9,134,094	144,820,423	6.3%
6	Syria	8,927,523	24,672,760	36.2%
7	Bangladesh	8,706,947	173,562,364	5.0%
8	Venezuela	8,328,514	28,405,543	29.3%
9	Afghanistan	7,528,994	42,647,492	17.7%
10	Philippines	6,988,383	115,843,670	6.0%
11	Pakistan	6,915,057	251,269,164	2.8%
12	Egypt	4,820,002	116,538,258	4.1%
13	United Kingdom	4,804,944	69,138,192	6.9%
14	Romania	4,583,819	19,015,088	24.1%
15	Poland	4,572,613	38,539,201	11.9%
16	Myanmar	4,320,462	54,500,091	7.9%
17	Germany	4,297,233	84,552,242	5.1%
18	Sudan	3,786,603	50,448,963	7.5%
19	Indonesia	3,745,148	283,487,931	1.3%
20	Vietnam	3,693,537	100,987,687	3.7%
21	Colombia	3,652,238	52,886,364	6.9%
22	Morocco	3,627,829	38,081,173	9.5%
23	United States	3,186,999	345,426,571	0.9%
24	South Sudan	3,168,836	11,943,409	26.5%
25	Turkiye	3,130,337	87,473,805	3.6%
26	Italy	2,941,444	59,342,867	5.0%
27	Kazakhstan	2,796,572	20,592,571	13.6%
28	Nepal	2,637,195	29,651,055	8.9%
29	France	2,547,158	66,548,530	3.8%
30	Yemen	2,480,734	40,583,165	6.1%
31	Malaysia	2,433,875	35,557,674	6.8%
32	Iraq	2,313,028	46,042,015	5.0%
33	Brazil	2,194,325	211,998,574	1.0%
34	Uzbekistan	2,114,480	36,361,859	5.8%
35	Congo,Dem.Rep.	2,097,387	109,276,265	1.9%
36	Nigeria	2,094,265	232,679,478	0.9%
37	Burkina Faso	2,050,050	23,548,781	8.7%
38	South Korea	2,030,473	51,717,590	3.9%
39	Haiti	2,017,692	11,772,557	17.1%
40	Somalia	1,935,594	19,009,151	10.2%
41	Dominican Republic	1,917,153	11,427,557	16.8%
42	El Salvador	1,834,670	6,338,193	28.9%
43	Portugal	1,799,179	10,425,293	17.3%
44	Algeria	1,780,399	46,814,308	3.8%
45	Iran	1,733,468	91,567,738	1.9%
46	Peru	1,672,482	34,217,848	4.9%
47	Spain	1,623,550	47,910,527	3.4%
48	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1,608,324	3,164,253	50.8%
49	Zimbabwe	1,519,324	16,634,373	9.1%
50	Sri Lanka	1,492,103	23,103,565	6.5%
51	Guatemala	1,460,232	18,406,359	7.9%
52	Honduras	1,397,584	10,825,704	12.9%
53	Canada	1,347,381	39,742,430	3.4%
54	Mali	1,292,519	24,478,596	5.3%
55	Bulgaria	1,252,234	6,757,689	18.5%
56	Jamaica	1,248,512	2,839,175	44.0%
57	Ecuador	1,243,065	18,135,478	6.9%
58	Ethiopia	1,240,645	132,059,767	0.9%
59	Hong Kong SAR,China	1,240,250	7,414,910	16.7%
60	Albania	1,216,628	2,791,765	43.6%
61	Coted’Ivoire	1,211,422	31,934,230	3.8%
62	Argentina	1,183,381	45,696,159	2.6%
63	Thailand	1,178,757	71,668,011	1.6%
64	Ghana	1,055,494	34,427,414	3.1%
65	Japan	1,008,173	123,753,041	0.8%
66	South Africa	1,005,800	64,007,187	1.6%
67	Serbia	963,307	6,736,216	14.3%
68	Central African Republic	905,808	5,330,690	17.0%
69	Nicaragua	905,251	6,916,140	13.1%
70	Moldova	864,257	3,034,961	28.5%
71	Croatia	826,166	3,875,325	21.3%
72	Azerbaijan	810,116	10,336,578	7.8%
73	Belarus	790,232	9,056,696	8.7%
74	Bolivia	783,473	12,413,315	6.3%
75	Greece	780,112	10,047,817	7.8%
76	Cambodia	778,793	17,638,801	4.4%
77	Paraguay	746,362	6,929,153	10.8%
78	Senegal	741,357	18,501,985	4.0%
79	Benin	726,530	14,462,724	5.0%
80	Tunisia	715,249	12,277,109	5.8%
81	Ireland	714,405	5,255,018	13.6%
82	Mozambique	702,796	34,631,766	2.0%
83	Lebanon	681,720	5,805,962	11.7%
84	New Zealand	679,772	5,213,944	13.0%
85	Laos	660,258	7,769,819	8.5%
86	Jordan	659,204	11,552,876	5.7%
87	Armenia	637,604	2,973,841	21.4%
88	Netherlands	631,391	18,228,742	3.5%
89	Angola	616,967	37,885,850	1.6%
90	Togo	584,790	9,515,236	6.1%
91	Czechia	583,214	10,735,859	5.4%
92	Uganda	578,034	50,015,093	1.2%
93	Burundi	576,530	14,047,786	4.1%
94	Kyrgyzstan	540,573	7,186,009	7.5%
95	Kenya	540,466	56,432,945	1.0%
96	Rwanda	539,046	14,256,567	3.8%
97	Hungary	538,794	9,676,135	5.6%
98	North Macedonia	534,616	1,823,009	29.3%
99	Belgium	521,884	11,738,764	4.4%
100	Tajikistan	514,478	10,590,928	4.9%
101	Switzerland	512,547	8,921,981	5.7%
102	Guinea	508,203	14,754,786	3.4%
103	Georgia	496,486	3,807,670	13.0%
104	Guyana	469,649	831,087	56.5%
105	Lithuania	459,268	2,859,110	16.1%
106	Chile	444,451	19,764,772	2.2%
107	Niger	439,378	27,032,413	1.6%
108	Australia	430,718	26,713,205	1.6%
109	Austria	430,560	9,120,813	4.7%
110	Malawi	427,573	21,655,286	2.0%
111	Cameroon	409,677	29,123,744	1.4%
112	Slovakia	389,909	5,506,760	7.1%
113	Comoros	367,574	866,628	42.4%
114	Turkmenistan	365,787	7,494,499	4.9%
115	Israel	324,804	9,387,021	3.5%
116	Trinidad and Tobago	323,630	1,507,782	21.5%
117	Chad	292,298	20,299,123	1.4%
118	Singapore	269,613	5,832,387	4.6%
119	Uruguay	263,285	3,386,588	7.8%
120	Suriname	258,026	634,431	40.7%
121	Lesotho	246,938	2,337,423	10.6%
122	Saudi Arabia	236,699	33,962,757	0.7%
123	Congo	231,080	6,332,961	3.6%
124	Tanzania	225,017	68,560,157	0.3%
125	Sweden	223,508	10,606,999	2.1%
126	Madagascar	212,455	31,964,956	0.7%
127	Panama	194,816	4,515,577	4.3%
128	Finland	181,834	5,617,311	3.2%
129	Fiji	181,025	928,784	19.5%
130	Mongolia	175,596	3,475,540	5.1%
131	Kuwait	167,850	4,934,508	3.4%
132	United Arab Emirates	166,074	11,027,129	1.5%
133	Latvia	161,014	1,871,872	8.6%
134	Libya	156,874	7,381,023	2.1%
135	Liberia	145,919	5,612,817	2.6%
136	Equatorial Guinea	136,825	1,892,517	7.2%
137	Denmark	124,665	5,977,412	2.1%
138	Estonia	124,216	1,360,546	9.1%
139	Zambia	122,793	21,314,956	0.6%
140	Norway	120,891	5,576,660	2.2%
141	Samoa	119,313	218,020	54.7%
142	Mauritius	114,314	1,271,169	9.0%
143	Timor-Leste	109,613	1,400,638	7.8%
144	Guinea-Bissau	103,999	2,201,352	4.7%
145	Mauritania	91,705	5,169,396	1.8%
146	Montenegro	90,678	638,479	14.2%
147	Cyprus	80,760	1,358,282	5.9%
148	Slovenia	78,808	2,118,697	3.7%
149	Gambia	72,452	2,759,988	2.6%
150	Sierra Leone	63,631	8,642,023	0.7%
151	Luxembourg	61,859	673,036	9.2%
152	Gabon	61,160	2,538,952	2.4%
153	Bahrain	57,160	1,607,049	3.6%
154	Costa Rica	50,982	5,129,910	1.0%
155	Brunei Darussalam	46,552	462,722	10.1%
156	Malta	43,940	539,607	8.1%
157	Sao Tome and Principe	41,433	235,537	17.6%
158	Namibia	40,371	3,030,131	1.3%
159	Papua New Guinea	35,050	10,576,502	0.3%
160	Grenada	26,300	117,208	22.4%
161	Iceland	23,326	393,396	5.9%
162	Seychelles	22,191	130,419	17.0%
163	Dominica	21,384	66,205	32.3%
164	Qatar	19,821	3,048,423	0.7%
165	Barbados	19,558	282,468	6.9%
166	Oman	17,095	5,281,538	0.3%
167	Botswana	16,731	2,521,139	0.7%
168	Vanuatu	15,202	327,778	4.6%
169	Antigua and Barbuda	13,111	93,772	14.0%
170	Eswatini	11,561	1,242,822	0.9%
171	Solomon Islands	8,352	819,198	1.0%
172	Belize	7,383	417,072	1.8%
173	Kiribati	6,306	134,518	4.7%
174	Djibouti	3,576	1,168,722	0.3%
175	Maldives	2,773	527,799	0.5%
176	Bahamas	2,174	401,283	0.5%
177	Andorra	1,982	81,938	2.4%
178	Bermuda	1,100	64,637	1.7%

A closer look at the data shows that just five countries account for roughly one in five global emigrants.

Unsurprisingly, populous countries dominate the top of the list. India leads with over 18 million citizens abroad, followed by China (11.7 million), Mexico (11.6 million) and Ukraine (9.8 million). Meanwhile, countries like South Sudan and Syria have high emigration numbers relative to their total populations, driven by conflict and instability.

Of developed nations, the UK stands out with 4.8 million emigrants, largely driven by retirees, expats, and long-standing diasporas.

The “Brain Drain” and High Emigration Rates

When viewed as a share of total population, smaller countries top the list. In Guyana, Samoa, and Bosnia & Herzegovina, over 50% of citizens live abroad. This reflects a classic “brain drain” effect, where educated or skilled workers leave for better prospects, often slowing economic growth at home.

Explaining the “Migration Hump”

A key theory in migration studies is the “Migration Hump”. It suggests that emigration rises as countries move from low- to middle-income status, when people gain the means and motivation to move. As prosperity continues and countries become high-income, emigration rates drop.

This phenomenon helps explain why middle-income nations like Egypt, the Philippines, and Pakistan feature prominently in the dataset.

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Check out our related chart: The Top Sources of Immigrants: 1995 vs 2020 on Voronoi.

• Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/countries-largest-emigrant-populations/