Foreign born
Foreign-born (also non-native) people are those born outside of their country of residence. Foreign born are often non-citizens, but many are naturalized citizens of the country in which they live, and others are citizens by descent, typically through a parent.
The term foreign born encompasses both immigrants and expatriates but is not synonymous with either. Foreign born may, like immigrants, have committed to living in a country permanently or, like expatriates, live abroad for a significant period with the plan to return to their birth-country eventually.
The status of foreign born — particularly their access to citizenship — differs globally. The large groups of foreign-born guest workers in Arab states of the Persian Gulf, for example, have no right to citizenship no matter the length of their residence. In the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the United States, by contrast, foreign born are often citizens or in the process of becoming citizens. Certain countries have intermediary rules: in Germany and Japan it is often difficult but not impossible for the foreign born to become citizens.
Definition
The adjective foreign-born has two potential meanings:
The United Nations uses the first definition to estimate the international migrant stock, whenever this information is available. In countries lacking data on place of birth, the UN uses the country of citizenship instead.[3]
On the other hand, the United States Census Bureau defines foreign-born as "anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth", which includes persons who have become U.S. citizens through naturalization but excludes persons born abroad to a U.S. citizen parent or parents.
According to the UN: "Equating international migrants with foreign citizens when estimating the migrant stock has important shortcomings. In countries where citizenship is conferred on the basis of jus sanguinis, people who were born in the country of residence may be included in the number of international migrants even though they may have never lived abroad. Conversely, persons who were born abroad and who naturalized in their country of residence are excluded from the stock of international migrants when using citizenship as the criterion to define international migrants."[3]
Trends by country
The percentage of foreign born in a country is the product mostly of immigration rates, but is also affected 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 English-speaking countries. The countries with the highest rates of immigration are wealthy countries with relatively open nationality or migration laws, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Persian Gulf states.
The largest foreign-born population in the world is in the United States, which was home to 39 million foreign-born residents in 2012, or 12.6% of the population.[4] 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%.[5] In 2010, the Migration Policy Institute reported that the largest percentages were Qatar (86.5%) and UAE (70%).[6]
Cities with largest foreign born populations
Rank | City | Country | Estimate Source | Foreign-Born Population | Percentage |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | London | ONS 2018 | 3,236,000[7] | 36.4% | |
2 | New York City | 2016 ACS | 3,200,219[8] | 37.5% | |
3 | Sydney | 2016 Census | 1,961,977[9] | 45.4% | |
4 | Melbourne | 2016 Census | 1,784,794[10] | 41.3% | |
5 | Los Angeles | 2016 ACS | 1,499,418 | 37.7% | |
6 | Toronto | Canada 2016 Census | 1,266,005[11] | 47.0% | |
7 | Madrid | 2019 Spain Census | 726,669 | 22.2% | |
7 | Houston | 2016 ACS | 698,395 | 30.3% | |
8 | Brisbane | 2016 Census | 682,132[12] | 33.2% | |
9 | Chicago | 2016 ACS | 559,623 | 20.7% | |
10 | Montréal | Canada 2016 Census | 570,940 | 34.3% | |
11 | San Jose | 2016 ACS | 402,776 | 39.3% | |
12 | Calgary | Canada 2016 Census | 383,065 | 31.3% | |
13 | San Diego | 2016 ACS | 373,842 | 26.7% | |
14 | Paris | 2014 UrbiStat | 325,100[13] | 14.6% | |
15 | Bogotá | 2019 | 352,431 | 5% | |
16 | Dallas | 2016 ACS | 324,972 | 24.7% | |
17 | Milan | Istat 2011 | 324,378[14] | 10.7% | |
18 | Phoenix | 2016 ACS | 308,744 | 19.6% | |
19 | San Francisco | 2016 ACS | 296,849 | 34.9% | |
20 | Amsterdam | Statistics Netherlands 2019 | 277,431 | 32.1% | |
21 | Miami | 2016 ACS | 264,656 | 58.3% | |
22 | Vancouver | Canada 2016 Census | 262,765 | 42.5% | |
23 | Stockholm | Statistics Sweden 2019 | 248,708 | 25.5% | |
24 | Ottawa | Canada 2016 Census | 216,505 | 23.6% | |
25 | Boston | 2016 ACS | 194,264 | 28.9% | |
26 | Rotterdam | Statistics Netherlands 2019 | 184,218 | 28.6% | |
27 | Hague | Statistics Netherlands 2019 | 176,183 | 32.8% | |
28 | Oslo | Statistics Norway 2019 | 171,868 | 25.2% | |
29 | Gothenburg | Statistics Sweden 2019 | 159,342 | 27.5% | |
30 | Birmingham | ONS 2016 | 140,000 | 22.8% | |
31 | Manchester | ONS 2016 | 140,000 | 26.4% | |
32 | Copenhagen | Statistics Denmark 2019 | 125,864 | 19.9% | |
33 | Malmö | Statistics Sweden 2019 | 118,323 | 34.4% | |
Metropolitan and Urban regions with largest foreign born populations
- Data for the cities listed below is from numerous sources.
See also
- Alien (law)
- Expatriate
- Immigration
- Naturalization
- Finishing School
- Foreign-born Japanese
- Immigrant generations
References
- foreign-born, Dictionary.com
- Foreign-born, Merriam-Webster
- INTERNATIONAL MIGRANT STOCK 2019 DOCUMENTATION
- United States Census Bureau. Current Population Survey - March 2012 Detailed Tables, Table 1.1. Accessed September 6, 2014.
- "UAE flatly rejects citizenship for foreign workers".
- "Data Hub". migrationpolicy.org.
- "Population of the United Kingdom by Country of Birth and Nationality".
- "Place of Birth by Year of Entry by Citizenship Status for the Foreign-Born Population - Universe: Foreign-born population 2016 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates New York City". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
- "2016 Census QuickStats". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
- "2016 Census QuickStats". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
- "Census Profile, 2016 Census".
- "2016 Census QuickStats". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
- "Province of PARIS". Urbistat. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
- "Data Hub". migrationpolicy.org.
- Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova (April 14, 2016). "U.S. Immigrant Population by Metropolitan Area". Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
- "Census Profile, 2016 Census - Toronto (Census metropolitan area), Ontario and Ontario (Province)".
- Bureau, U.S. Census. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
- "U.S. Immigrant Population by State and County". migrationpolicy.org. 2014-02-04. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
- INSEE. "Répartition de la population de la France par région de naissance et région de résidence en 2008". Retrieved 2012-01-29.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2016 Census QuickStats - Greater Sydney". Retrieved 2017-06-09.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2016 Census QuickStats - Greater Melbourne". Retrieved 2017-06-09.
- https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/statistik-efter-amne/befolkning/befolkningens-sammansattning/befolkningsstatistik/pong/tabell-och-diagram/helarsstatistik--kommun-lan-och-riket/utrikes-fodda-efter-lan-kommun-och-fodelseland-31-december/
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2018-12-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links
- ForeignBorn - a resource for entering and living in the USA
- USA Census Bureau on foreign born population
- Luxembourg – Country Summary
- Migration article from U.C. Davis