[Urbanguy]

Detailed foreign-born stats from around the globe

http://www.tigerswebdesign.com/tiger/animatedgifs/earth.gif

Halo. ;) Those of you who have known me from this site for years know that i'm kind of a statistics freak and yep i'm back at it again. After a long period of collecting (and translating) data from numerous sources i've compiled what is probably the largest collection of detailed foreign-born data of cities, metros, prefectures, districts, etc. from around the globe to share with all of you. We normally see data about the U.S. and Canada on this site but we are going far beyond our shores on this one.

FYI: The majority of the statistics are of foreign-born by country/place of birth but there are a few that are by country of citizenship only. There are some countries that do not release information by country or place of birth. Also, not all of the data are for metropolitan area's there are many that are of cities, prefectures, districts and what have you because of the limited data released or the difficulty of determining what (districts, provinces, etc) make up some of these metro areas.

Some of this information dates back as far as 1990 (Venezuela) to late 2007- early 2008. I tried to get more recent information from Venezuela but I could not access the country of birth information (must be the Chavez vs. Bush thing). I also tried accessing many African (Arab, Maghreb and sub-Saharan) countries sites but the information has been very limited so far or hard to find.

Anyhow, Here goes... enjoy. :)

ATTENTION - Did some minor touch ups (3 July 2008) to make them a tad bit prettier. ;)

The majority are of the TOP 25 MAX places or countries of birth but there are some that are way less due to limited data.

Row 1: *Greater Milan (Milan-Bergamo-Como-Lecco-Lodi-Pavia-Varese-Novara)
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/4235/statistics1ma9.jpg

Row 2:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/6823/statistics2ng7.jpg

Row 3:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/7104/statistics3hw9.jpg

Row 4:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/6371/statistics4yn9.jpg

Row 5:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/3992/statistics5ze3.jpg

Row 6:
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/4712/statistics6jp0.jpg

Row 7:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/1920/statistics7em2.jpg

Row 8:
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/2605/statistics8kk9.jpg

Row 9:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/5176/statistics9ou6.jpg

Row 10:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/3130/statistics10ar3.jpg

Row 11:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/5057/statistics11of4.jpg

Row 12: *Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is a disputed (mostly ethnic) Armenian republic of Azerbaijan.
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/2247/statistics12bf5.jpg

Row 13:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/5334/statistics13jt0.jpg

Row 14:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/9128/statistics14yf4.jpg

Row 15:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/5765/statistics15eb6.jpg

Row 16:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/651/statistics16dn4.jpg

Row 17:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/5576/statistics17fc8.jpg

Row 18:
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/8622/statistics18uo9.jpg

Row 19:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/5352/statistics19ms7.jpg

Row 20: *I added P.R. because of it's large impact/migrant community. Also the U.S. data for cities/metros/states only released a total of 75 countries so the Top 25 here might not be truly representative of each place and it's 8 yrs. old! :P
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/2580/statistics20zw3.jpg

Row 21:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/5807/statistics21hd9.jpg

Row 22:
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/7/statistics22on3.jpg

Sources of Data: - UPDATED: 4 July 2008

Argentina Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos, Census 2001 y Centro Latinoamericano y Caribeño de Demografía (CELADE), Division de Población de la CEPAL
Armenia Source: Armenian Statistical Service of Republic of Armenia, 2001
Aruba Source: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS Aruba)
Australia Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006
Austria Source: Statistik Austria, Census 2001
Belgium Source: Direction générale Statistique et Information économique et l'Office des étrangers
Brasil Source: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat
Canada Source: Statistics Canada, 2006
Cape Verde Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística, Cabo Verde
Costa Rica Source: INEC Costa Rica, Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos
Czech Republic Source: Czech Statistical Office, 2008
Denmark Source: StatBank Denmark
Estonia Source: Eesti Statistika
Finland Source: Statistikcentralen, Statistics Finland
France Source: Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques, Census 1999
Georgia Source: Statistics Georgia, State Department for Statistics, Georgia 1999
Germany Source: Federal Statistical Office, Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland, Germany
Greece Source: General Secretariat of National Statistical Service, Greece
Greek Cyprus Source: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Υπουργείο Οικονομικών, Στατιστική Υπηρεσία
Hong Kong Source: 2001 Population Census, Census and Statistics Office, Hong Kong
Hungary Source: Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat
Iceland Source: Hagstofa Íslands
Ireland (Republic of) Source: Central Statistics Office, Ireland
Israel Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel
Italy Source: Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, 2006
Japan Source: Japan Statistics Bureau
Jordan Source: The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Department of Statistics (DOS), Population and Housing, Census 2004 دائرة الاحصاءات العامة دائرة الاحصاءات العامة التعداد العام للسكان والمساآن 2004
Korea, (Republic of) Source: Korea National Statistical Office (통계청), United Nations Statistics Division
Luxembourg Source: STATEC (Service central de la statistique et des études économiques)
Macao Source: Direcção dos Serviços de Estatística e Censos (DSEC), 2006
Malta Source: National Statistics Office
Manchester (UK) Source: 2001 Census, Manchester City Council, Manchester.gov.uk
Mexico Source: IPUMS International data derived from the General Census of Population and Housing, Mexico 2000
Moldova Source: Biroul Naţional de Statistică al Republicii Moldova
Netherlands Source: Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek
Nicaragua Source: Instituto Nacional de Información de Desarrollo, Nicaragua
Norway Source: Statistisk sentralbyrå
Portugal Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística, Portugal
Russian Federation Source: Federal State Statistics Service, Russian Federation
Serbia Source: City of Belgrade, Census 2002
Singapore Source: Statistics Singapore, Government of Singapore
Slovak Republic Source: Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, Census 2001
South Africa Source: Statistics South Africa, United Nations Statistics Division
Spain Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, 2007
Sweden and Stockholm Source: Statistics Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrån), City of Stockholm, Stockholms stad
Switzerland Source: Office fédéral de la statistique, Neuchâtel, Statistique suisse
Taiwan Source: Population and Housing Census 2000, Taiwan
Thailand Source: National Statistical Office of Thailand, Census 2000
Turkey Source: Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and Nüfus ve Kalkınma Göstergeleri, Türkiye İstatistik, United Nations Statistics Division
Uganda Source: United Nations Statistics Division
Ukraine Source: State Statistics Committee of Ukraine (Держкомстат України), United Nations Statistics Division
United Arab Emirates Source: Ministry of Labor, UAE
United Kingdom Source: UK National Statistics & Neighborhood Statistics, Census 2001
United States of America Source: United States Census Bureau
Venezuela Source: el Censo 1990 en Venezuela, Republica de Venezuela Oficina Central de Estadistica e Informatica


What are your thoughts? Any surprises or eye-openers here? BTW, I'll add updates or other cities/metro's from around the globe as I find them.

[Don B.]

Impressive work. A mind-numbing volume of data. :)

--don

[staff]

Århus has a metropolitan population of 1,2 million!? That's crazy, because it really hasn't! :)

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/4538/statistics6layer1kh4.jpg

[Urbanguy]

Thanks Don B.!

staff, I was a little unsure about that myself because i'm unfamiliar with that city but I included the whole central Jutland region as per wikipedia (I think that's where I got the idea from) estimation of what consistutes that metro. I'm sure that I got a few other places wrong but I did add a disclaimer at the intro of this thread! :P

[the pope]

super quick scanning observation: Half of Toronto is foreign born.

[J. Will]

I'm confused as to why Puerto Rico would be considered "foreign born" in the U.S. It's a territory of the U.S. That's like saying someone from the Yukon in Toronto is "foreign born" (and yes I'm aware that one must pass through customs to get from the continental U.S. to Puerto Rico).

[plinko]

I'm confused as to why Puerto Rico would be considered "foreign born" in the U.S. It's a territory of the U.S. That's like saying someone from the Yukon in Toronto is "foreign born" (and yes I'm aware that one must pass through customs to get from the continental U.S. to Puerto Rico).

You don't have to go through customs to go to PR from the continental US.

[Urbanguy]

J. Will, it was an extra as I had mentioned (as P.R.) above that row to show the impact of that migrant community. And although it's a territory (and regarded as a separate foreign country/place by other countries) P.R. is more Latin American/Caribbean culturally/linguistically so I felt it would be cool to add it but if you look closely there are 25 others countries/places listed in keeping with the Top 25 I wanted to show for each city/metro, etc that I had enough data for.

the pope and over 80% are foreign-born in Dubai! ;) Of course, the majority are migrant workers but hey it's more than mind-blowing.

[J. Will]

J. Will, it was an extra as I had mentioned (as P.R.) above that row to show the impact of that migrant community.

Yeah, I didn't see that initially. Does the U.S. Census Bureau list Puerto-Rican born people as "foreign born".

[Urbanguy]

^No the U.S. does not, just other countries. Every U.S. Territory and Common Wealth (e.g., American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands), those born overseas to at least one American parent, born on military instalations, etc and in most cases those that we allow visa-free admissions to live, work, etc. to the U.S. that are not territories like the Marshall Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia and so on of which the U.S. is home to thousands are excluded. However, given the cultural/linguistic diversity and heavy in-migration from these places it's nice to give some recognition of their presence.

Also, some of the countries or places listed aren't technically considered foreign-born for some of these places as i've mentioned at the intro of this thread some are listed as place of citizenship which may skew the numbers in some cases.

[Echo Park]

Awesome job, Urbanguy. I'm going to peruse these for a while.

Toronto's distribution is very impressive

[urbanactivist]

I love it!!!!!!

So the most "international metro of the USA???

Los Angeles... and by a long shot. Almost as many internationals as NYC, but with only 3/4ths of the population.

[Echo Park]

also IIRC didn't LA surpass NY in sheer number of foreign born residents sometime this decade?

[pip]

Damn! I'm impressed. Haha I'll spend forever looking at this and forever rereading it.

[Crawford]

also IIRC didn't LA surpass NY in sheer number of foreign born residents sometime this decade?

Not according to the U.S. Census. The most recent numbers are 2007 American Community Survey.

New York is consistently the #1 immigrant source, though LA is always a very strong second.

[Crawford]

I love it!!!!!!

So the most "international metro of the USA???

Los Angeles... and by a long shot. Almost as many internationals as NYC, but with only 3/4ths of the population.

No, Miami, and by a long shot.

Now if you are talking diversity of immigration, then other cities are more diverse than Miami.

New York definitely has the most "balanced" immigration.

But in terms of proportion of overall population, Miami by far.

[Urbanguy]

Echo Park, thanks. Judging from what i've found so far NYC, Toronto, London and Washington D.C.-Baltimore (Paris too) have the most impressive distributions in regards to the regions of the world the immigrants are coming from and proportions overall. D.C. is quite the sneaker and least talked about but its immigrant origin population is incredibly diverse.

urbanactivistTX, if you compare NYC and L.A.'s sources of immigrants, NYC get's more bang out of the millions it has while nearly half of L.A.'s +5 million in 2000 came from just one country--Mexico.

Echo Park, i'm not sure if L.A. surpassed NYC's immigrant population but NYC has been the largest reciever of "documented" immigrants every year this decade. In fact NYC took in over 220,000 in 2006 nearly as many immigrants as all of Canada that year and more than most countries. L.A. absorbed somewhere around 170,000 maybe more because I cannot remember off of the top of my head at the moment.

Anyhow, what do you folks think about some of the larger cities in Europe (Milan, Madrid, Barcelona) and Australia (Sydney, Melbourne)?

[Cirrus]

The DC numbers look to include Baltimore, although it's worth noting that pretty much all the immigrants are in DC; Baltimore has very few.

[J. Will]

According to these numbers, Toronto has 13 countries (12 if China and H.K. are combined) whose immigrant communities account for more than 1% of the total population (approx. 50,000). Vancouver also does well with 10 countries accounting for more than 1% each.

[Urbanguy]

Cirrus, yep D.C. includes Baltimore. The figures are from the old CMSA definition used by the Census in 2000. However, the US Census only listed like 75 or so countries/places of birth so the Top 25 for American cities might look a bit different than what is shown.

[johnnypd]

the london figures will be hugely different now, over 1 million EU citizens from eastern europe have migrated to britain, majority staying in london.

the paris stats don't look too accurate either. i suspect the list might be biased towards a north american type of migration, where people tend to settle permanently. in the EU movement is a lot freer and transitory, with many staying for shorter periods.

[Echo Park]

What's the deal with Japan's low immigration numbers? Tokyo is one of the ''big four'' world cities, but there are even 'gamma cities' around the world that have larger immigrant populations :(

[Enzo1947]

Where are the statistics for India and China?

[Shawn]

What's the deal with Japan's low immigration numbers? Tokyo is one of the ''big four'' world cities, but there are even 'gamma cities' around the world that have larger immigrant populations :(

-A strong undercurrent of xenophobia cutting across nearly every sector of society, but particularly among the ruling LDP party.

-A culture which has historically been intolerant of ethnic and other differences and which prides itself on the "uniqueness of the Japanese people." Basically, even if you become a Japanese citizen, unless you were born to ethnic Japanese parents who actually live in Japan, you will never be considered Japanese - no matter how perfectly you assimilate.

-An immigration policy which reflects the above points, among them a subjective series of "incongruity tests and interviews" (iwaken) which involves interviewing your neighbors, coworkers and local police to make sure that your lifestyle is "Japanese" enough. Oh, and you have to give up your name and adopt a katakana version once you become a citizen.

-Language barriers

[BrianSac]

Urbanguy,
Thanks for the stats and hard work.

I found it interesting to see so many Portuguese people in Paris/Lyon.

[artvandelay]

Great work Urbanguy!

I found it interesting to see so many Portuguese people in Paris/Lyon.

There is also a large concentration of Portuguese in Switzerland as well, anyone know the reason for this?

[Urbanguy]

johnnypd, the Stats for France are straigt from their own statistical sources (Immigrés par région) -> Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques, so I'm not sure if there's some sort of North American-like bias. I also have data from the last official count according to "Immigrés selon le pays de naissance en 1999." I'm sure there's an undercount as in other places but the stats are going by country of birth so EU or not it seems to be included.

Enzo1947, I've tried but I've only been able to dig up data for Hong Kong and Macao so far. Some countries don't release this sort of data at city or metro level sometimes just at country or state/provincial/canton/district levels. I've also tried India to South Africa, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Zambia, Congo, Albania, Afghanistan, Uganda, Turkey, Tanzania, Suriname, Romania, etc but haven't been able to find this type of data at city or metro levels. In some cases I have found data at city/metro levels but they've been extremely limited like only down to region of the world and/or list too few countries to post here.

There are many countries that have yet to experience a noticeable amount of international immigration to have enough impact to record this type of infromation. Most developing countries are used to seeing their people leave for greener pastures.

artvandelay, thanks. Portuguese are every where (and have a long history of migration) just as many other groups usually because Portugal has lacked the opportunities as other countries in the EU or the Americas. Also, if you'll notice there are Americans, Chinese, British, Indians, Filipinos, Polish, Italians, etc in nearly every Top 25 as well.

[Urbanguy]

BTW I will post some data at country level for certain countries and a few other cities/metros in the next day or two.

I will be posting the Top 25 for countries like: Germany, Italy, England and Wales, Spain, Canada, Australia, United States, Netherlands, Japan, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, New Zealand, Belgium, Argentina, France, Thailand, and more so stay tuned.

I also have newly release data (as in 2008) at the metro level for Vienna, Austria...so look out homies. ;)

[Minato Ku]

By far there is a big problem in Paris stat : the number of chinese.
Only 44,000 chinese in Paris. :haha:
There is largely over 100,000 chinese (I don't speak of people with chinese backroom, but I speak of chinese born people).
Chinese is now in many part of Paris the most common foreign language.

Portuguese was the largest immigrant group in 1970's, the number decrease due at the death of the old immigrants.

Also don't confuse something in Paris, London, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse... french cities and Britain cities like most American cities but unlike most European cities, the number of visible minority is far higher than the number of foreign born.
So for many people the number of immigrant could look higher when they don't know this fact.

[R@ptor]

Here's the list ordered by percentages.

The numbers for Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and Copenhagen definitely look too low.


83.02%: Dubai, UAE
45.74%: Toronto, CA
39.62%: Vancouver, CA
37.32%: Geneva, SWI
32.95%: Luxembourg, LUX
31,74%: Sydney, AUS
31.34%: Perth, AUS
30.95%: Los Angeles, US
30.76%: Brussels, BE
28.90%: Melbourne, AUS
28.44%: Amsterdam, NL
27.71%: Frankfurt, GER
27.69%: Tblisi, GEO
27.07%: London, UK
27.02%: San Francisco, US
26.38%: Rotterdam, NL
24.44%: New York, US
23.73%: Adelaide, AUS
23.62%: Calgary, CA
22.61%: Munich, GER
22.23%: Zurich, SWI
21.71%: Brisbane, AUS
20.63%: Montreal, CA
20.52%: Stockholm, SWE
20.51%: St.Gallen, SWI
20.08%: Aargau, SWI
19.07%: Vienna, AUT
18.15%: Ottawa, CA
17.91%: Nice, FRA
17.90%: Cologne, GER
17,55%: Singapore, SG
16.81%: Paris, FRA
16.32%: Oslo, NOR
16.02%: Chicago, US
14.49%: Malaga, ES
14.49%: Murcia, ES
14.25%: Madrid, ES
14.15%: Hamburg, GER
13.05%: Toulouse, FRA
12.89%: Washington, US
12.67%: Bremen, GER
12.55%: Barcelona, ES
12.33%: Faro, POR
12.28%: Berne, SWI
10.96%: Antwerp, BE
10.95%: Yerevan, ARM
10.09%: Valencia, ES
9.91%: Lyon, FRA
9.77%: Zaragoza, ES
9.58%: Marseille, FRA
9.56%: Bergen, NOR
9.06%: Berlin, GER
8.63%: Bratislava, SK
8.48%: Caracas, VE
8.01%: Buenos Aires, ARG
7.82%: Florence, IT
7.30%: Milan, IT
7.04%: Copenhagen, DEN
6.93%: Bologna, IT
6.81%: Helsinki, FIN
6.55%: Reykjavik, ICE
6.22%: Rome, IT
6.21%: Hong Kong, CN
5.78%: Turin, IT
5.36%: Venice, IT
5.35%: Lisbon, POR
4.98%: Genoa, IT
4.83%: Setubal, POR
4.41%: Moscow, RU
4.39%: Bilbao, ES
3.83%: Aarhus, DEN
2.70%: Sevilla, ES
2.69%: Belgrade, SB
2.53%: Budapest, HU
1.94%: Osaka, JP
1.94%: Taipei, TW
1.87%: Sao Paulo, BR
1.77%: Tokyo, JP
1.75%: Porto, POR
1.68%: Rio de Janeiro, BR
1.57%: Nagoya, JP
1.54%: Naples, IT
1.51%: Palermo, IT
1.44%: Bari, IT
1.34%: Kaohsiung, TW
1.17%: Yokohama, JP
0.93%: Bangkok, TH
0.68%: Mexico City, MX
0.56%: Prague, CZ

[tdawg]

I'm surprised by LA's Korean population, by far the largest in North America. Now i want kimchee. Another stat I love, over 5 million foreign-born New Yorkers!

[brian_b]

Outstanding data!

If you are taking requests, I'd love to see a few more of the American cities, such as Houston and Miami. I would also be interested in Auckland if you can do the city-level data for it.

[VivaLFuego]

Cool list, thanks for sharing...

[Serenade]

Wow. That's some impressive work. I'm surprised Toronto is almost half. I would have never guessed that high.

[dimondpark]

Awesome work. Thread of the month!

I really wish there was more data on Immigrant stock. Its so hard to come by and would really elevate the conversation past immigrants themselves and focus on the size and scope of their influence on metropolitan areas.

[arlekin_m]

mexico city is surprisingly (at least to me) un-cosmopolitan, according to this data.... i see koreans all over the city everyday (952 seems like a really low number), and an evergrowing black population (though i can't really tell if they're affro-caribbean or african)...

also, we mexicans don't really broader our horizons in terms of migration (we only figure in the bottom rungs of some spanish cities) other than the us

[Crawford]

^
Yeah, I noticed that too, but I wouldn't say DF has lots of Koreans or Afro-Caribbeans.

I see plenty of Asians (though most look Chinese rather than Korean), but I very rarely see blacks in DF.

I think the blacks in DF are black Mexicans, not immigrants.

There are black Mexicans who live along the Gulf of Mexico and are descendents of slaves. They are typically concentrated around Veracruz.

[Crawford]

Ok, American Community Survey does NOT list foreign born population by country of origin, so we will have to wait until the 2010 Census to get U.S. foreign-born breakdowns by MSA.

However, ACS does have overall foreign-born population by city and county.

I am too lazy to look up all the counties that make up each MSA, but I took a quick look at the most recent data for the three biggest cities. Unfortunately, the most recent data is only as of 2005.

Keep in mind that this data is for city limits only:
Puerto Rico is NOT included.

City
2005
Foreign-born # Foreign-born %

New York 3,038,139 37%

Los Angeles 1,507,032 40%

Chicago 599,802 22%

[Swede]

The Stockholm.se stats as of 2006.12.31

For the City of Stockholm:

Total foreign born 160 618
Total City of Stockholm 782 885

Finland 19 330
Irak 13 653
Iran 9 331
Poland 7 738
Turkey 6 528
Somalia 5 357
Chile 5 158
Serbia & Montenegro 4 313
Germany 4 149
Ethiopia 3 820
Greece 3 486
Russia 3 470
Norway & Iceland 3 414
Canada and the US 3 205
UK 3 195
China (PRC) 2 825
Thailand 2 338
Syria 2 336
Bosnia-Hercegovina 2 619
Eritrea 2 484
Estonia 1 912
India 1 876
Peru 1 863
France 1 861
Marocko 1 818
Denmark 1 746
Hungary 1 696
Lebanon 1 675
Bangladesh 1 663
South Korea 1 648
Afghanistan 1 566
Colombia 1 521
Italy 1 420
Spain 1 392
Romania 1 348
Pakistan 1 057
Central America 1 843
Other EU 4 722
Other Europe 1 805
Other Africa 7 233
Other Asia 6 119
Other South America 3 297
Oceania 723
Stateless and unknown 62


The rest of the metro has plenty of immigrants too. Like Södertälje: pwnzoring North America in Iraqi refugees since the War began.
____________________________________________________
Århus has a metropolitan population of 1,2 million!? That's crazy, because it really hasn't! :)
It must be for all of Midt-Jylland (Middle Jutland). Which as you say is pretty far from the same thing as Århus.

[Crawford]

Ok, just for kicks, including Puerto Ricans in the foreign-born numbers, 2005 city proper only:

City
2005
Foreign-born # Foreign-born %
+Puerto Rico

New York 3,808,262 46%

Los Angeles 1,520,906 40%

Chicago 706,810 26%

[dimondpark]

Ok, American Community Survey does NOT list foreign born population by country of origin, so we will have to wait until the 2010 Census to get U.S. foreign-born breakdowns by MSA.

However, ACS does have overall foreign-born population by city and county.

I am too lazy to look up all the counties that make up each MSA, but I took a quick look at the most recent data for the three biggest cities. Unfortunately, the most recent data is only as of 2005.

Keep in mind that this data is for city limits only:
Puerto Rico is NOT included.

City
2005
Foreign-born # Foreign-born %

New York 3,038,139 37%

Los Angeles 1,507,032 40%

Chicago 599,802 22%

They do Metros too.

CSA Foreign Born 2006
New York 5,743,567
Los Angeles 5,508,012
San Francisco 2,112,694
Miami(MSA) 2,023,711
Chicago 1,702,799
Washington DC 1,278,565
Houston 1,203,430
Dallas 1,090,836
Boston 825,744
Atlanta 700,115

[urbanactivist]

^^^Thanks!!! I've been looking for MSA stats.

[VivaLFuego]

I'd definitely be interested to see a few other US metros, like Boston, Philly, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta.

[dimondpark]

Regional Foreign Born Populations, 2006
Northeast 8,202,139 14.9%
Midwest 4,241,565 6.2%
South 11,375,409 10.4%
West 13,728,676 19.7%

[Kingofthehill]

Do Toronto's immigrants assimilate?

I noticed alot of North Africans and Eastern Europeans across Europe.

[brickell]

So it looks like London is tops in American ex-pats?
Would Tijuana be the highest percentage?

[SpongeG]

there is no one from fiji in toronto? thats weird - theres quite a lot here

great info/lists

[mthd]

I love it!!!!!!

So the most "international metro of the USA???

Los Angeles... and by a long shot. Almost as many internationals as NYC, but with only 3/4ths of the population.

hardly - 31% foreign born vs 27% foreign born? i'd call that statistically almost meaningless. los angeles' foreign born population is also nearly half from one country, whereas there is no group in the bay area with even a quarter. having spent significant time in both regions i would say they are almost equally multicultural.

[J. Will]

[COLOR="Purple"][B]Do Toronto's immigrants assimilate?

Many don't. The father of a girl I know (I haven't met him, so I can't verify this personally) is from Italy, and can apparently speak very, very little English despite having lived here for 35 years. Many immigrant communities are large enough that immigrants can live without much day-to-day interaction with those outside the communities. The Chinese restaurant that I like to get take out from never answers the phone in English. I guess they assume English-speaking people will rarely call them.

I understand immigrants to Canada have to show some knowledge of English and/or French, so I don't know if many newer immigrants can barely speak the language, or if it's just those who arrived many years ago.

A huge number of commercial ethnic neighbourhoods exist in the inner city to make life easier for immigrants: Little Italy, Corsa Italia (also Italian), Chinatown, Chinatown East, Koreatown, Little Portugal, Greektown, and Little India all lie within 2 miles of downtown. There are many more in outlying areas of the city and the suburbs.

[Echo Park]

hardly - 31% foreign born vs 27% foreign born? i'd call that statistically almost meaningless. los angeles' foreign born population is also nearly half from one country, whereas there is no group in the bay area with even a quarter. having spent significant time in both regions i would say they are almost equally multicultural.

It's easy to deflate L.A.'s status as a top tier immigration center in the world because of its heavy share of immigrants coming from a single country (Mexico.) But I think in a more meaningful civic sense you look at the sheer numbers of other immigrants and you see L.A. has quite a few groups over 100,000+ and several more 50,000+. At those numbers immigration groups become substantial communities within their metros, and there are really only a few cities that can claim those numbers. New York really is the most international city. It's amazing and its very obvious if you've ever gone to NYC and seen it for yourself at the street level.

[SpongeG]

Many don't. The father of a girl I know (I haven't met him, so I can't verify this personally) is from Italy, and can apparently speak very, very little English despite having lived here for 35 years. Many immigrant communities are large enough that immigrants can live without much day-to-day interaction with those outside the communities. The Chinese restaurant that I like to get take out from never answers the phone in English. I guess they assume English-speaking people will rarely call them.

I understand immigrants to Canada have to show some knowledge of English and/or French, so I don't know if many newer immigrants can barely speak the language, or if it's just those who arrived many years ago.

A huge number of commercial ethnic neighbourhoods exist in the inner city to make life easier for immigrants: Little Italy, Corsa Italia (also Italian), Chinatown, Chinatown East, Koreatown, Little Portugal, Greektown, and Little India all lie within 2 miles of downtown. There are many more in outlying areas of the city and the suburbs.

my friend and his mom recently moved to Canada - she doesn't speak any english and they got their citizenship last summer - she never had to take any tests or had to speak any english at all anytime - only he had to take a test - his mom isn't that old - in her late 50's

i was kinda surprised

[david23]

delete

[Urbanguy]

Just as a note, I would not put too much faith into the American Community Survey because it's quite off from what i've seen year after year which is why I haven't posted any of it here. :)

VivaLFuego and brian_b, I'll post more of the metros the both of you have mentioned. The crappy thing about data for American cities is that it's not as extensive as it is at the national level which I have data for--for every country on the planet and then some while the census only releases approximately 75 or so countries for State/County/Metro/City levels.

****For example the Boston figures do not include Cape Verde and Morocco for which it has large immigrant populations of or Myanmar (Burma) for Fort Wayne, Indiana or Uzbekistan for New York City or Kenya for Dallas or Liberia for Philadelphia or Moldova for Seattle and Sacramento or Sierra Leone for Washington D.C. or Yemen for NYC, Detroit, San Francisco and Fresno...well you get the picture.****

SpongeG, yep there are people from Fiji in Toronto but it was way too small to make the Top 25. Most Fiji (most of which are ethnically Indo-Fijian) born immigrants in North America settle in the Western half of the U.S. and Canada.

brickell, I think Tijuana might have the highest percentage of Americans but it might not have the largest in raw numbers. There are many in Baja and other places in Mexico.

arlekin_m, They could be Koreans and Chinese who are migrant workers. There are thousands who work in factories (and other places of course) through out Latin America that are simply uncounted.

ATTENTION - Did some minor touch ups to the city lists (3 July 2008) to make them a tad bit prettier. ;)

Row 1: Here are some more cities/metros including brand new data for Vienna. BTW I added P.R. (although not considered foreign in U.S.) for Miami because the migrant population is quite huge.
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/5452/statistics23wt6.jpg

Row 2: Some more Australian and Canadian metros/statistical divisions/districts from their 2006 Censuses.
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/1439/statistics24xf5.jpg

Row 3: Here's a bunch of stastitics at the national level from around the globe. Hope you'll enjoy. :)
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/360/countries1xu0.jpg

Row 4:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/9267/countries2ha8.jpg

Row 5:
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/2751/countries3us7.jpg

Row 6: Of course the U.S. data is very outdated but it's something to ponder.
http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/9529/countries4ub7.jpg

Row 7:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/3482/countries5it8.jpg

Row 8:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/277/countries6ym1.jpg

Row 9:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/8418/countries7fo9.jpg

Row 10:
http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/9347/countries8rf9.jpg

Row 11:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/1526/countries9fn8.jpg

Stay tuned for more....eventually

[Urbanguy]

david23, that site gathers it's data from the US Census which as i've mentioned a couple of times is quite limited in the range of countries that it shows for State/County/Metro/City levels. It only has a max of around 75 countries and there are many states/cities/metros that have large immigrant sources that are not on that short list, unfortunately. :(

[J. Will]

I don't see Hong Kong listed for the USA 2000 numbers. Is HK lumped in with the rest of China?

[staff]

So (perceived) "homogeneous countries" such as Sweden, Switzerland and Austria all have higher percentages of foreign born populations than the US according to those stats.

[MonkeyRonin]

So (perceived) "homogeneous countries" such as Sweden, Switzerland and Austria all have higher percentages of foreign born populations than the US according to those stats.

Based on the ethnic makeup - ultimately a more important measure of diversity - they certainly are more homogeneous than the US. In all these countries, a single ethnic group composes the majority of the population, in the US, the largest ethnicity is only 17% of the total population.

[Crawford]

So (perceived) "homogeneous countries" such as Sweden, Switzerland and Austria all have higher percentages of foreign born populations than the US according to those stats.

None of these countries are perceived as homogenous by anyone with even a smidgen of knowledge of Western Europe.

Foreign-born population is just one piece of the overall puzzle. These countries are much more homogenous than the U.S., because they are overwhelmingly white, and most of their immigration is from neighboring European nations.

For example, Vienna sits on the border of much poorer Eastern Europe, so it obviously has tons of residents of the former Yugoslavia. I would not call this equivalent to Colombians in New York or Armenians in LA, nor does it take into account the ethnic and racial dynamics of the non-immigrant population.

[Urbanguy]

ATTENTION - Did some minor touch ups to the city lists (3 July 2008) to make them a tad bit prettier. ;)

Row 1: It looks like all those darn Americans are taking over Mexico. I wonder if they are taking their jobs too? ;)
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/907/statistics25pe4.jpg

Row 2:
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/8848/statistics26st2.jpg

Row 3: As I've mentioned a few times…data for American cities/metros are only limited to 75 or so countries so the Top 25's aren't necessarily accurate. For example, anyone familiar with Boston's immigrant community would know that Cape Verde and Morocco would be in the Top 10-15 but those countries aren't listed by the Census at city/metro level. This is just one of many examples nationwide.
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/7844/statistics27ql1.jpg

[Urbanguy]

Well as for European cities (other than London, Paris, etc) they have come a long way with the diversity of their immigrant sources that's for sure. Of course the ole' stereotype is that they are very homogeneous societies but for those that may still think that way they aren't looking at the data close enough. There are thousands of Latin Americans, Asians, Africans, Arabs, Maghrebs, etc (as to the US) moving to (or being resettled in) a lot of major cities or the most developed countries in the EU and that's pretty impressive when you consider that part of the world's long history of out-migration.

For example, who would've thought you'd see fairly large numbers of Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Ghanaians, Senegalese, Nigerians, etc in Italy? Many Thais and Vietnamese in Germany...Chileans, Somalis, Iranians in Sweden...etc

Of course if you add the immigrant stock (children of the foreign born), I'd imagine that the numbers may be even doubled or more.

[johnnypd]

Based on the ethnic makeup - ultimately a more important measure of diversity - they certainly are more homogeneous than the US. In all these countries, a single ethnic group composes the majority of the population, in the US, the largest ethnicity is only 17% of the total population.

i think that is absolute crap.

what accounts for more diversity, 1 million african-americans in a large US city, whose ancestors have lived in that country for over 200 years, and who are culturally 'as american as apple-pie' (or as american as jazz, or hip hop). or 1 million white eastern europeans in a western european country? of course it is the latter, but stats showing ethnicity would not reveal this. assuming skin colour is a good marker for diversity is as dumb as saying "oh look, half of the people here have ginger hair, how multicultural!"

multi-ethnic is not the same as multicultural.

to the OP. what i am saying about the bias is something that is inherent to the statistics, which may well have a bias toward recording permanent or long-term settlers from foreign countries, something i see as more common in North America (for a number of geographic/legal reasons) than in Europe. of course there's exceptions, a japanese businessman sent over to LA for a year to set-up a branch of a Jap business, but there's also mexicans who, due to their legal status, can't even leave the country to visit family or go on holiday. In the EU i'd say a majority of migrants are temporary and it is less likely these people would be recorded on an official census or survey.

[MonkeyRonin]

How about this, what accounts for more diversity - generations of subsequent immigrants shaping a new culture (essentially, a culture created from multiple cultures) or an established culture with a few immigrant living in a completely separate one? (simply multiple cultures)

[Urbanguy]

J. Will, Hong Kong (and Macao) are not clumped with China for the US Census figures. They just didn't make my cut-off of the Top 25.

So just for kicks since you inquired...

Hong Kong in 2000 was (rounded figure): 203,580
Macao in 2000 was (rounded figure): 6,715

From all of the data i've seen in my research so far it can be said that Canada has the largest migrant community from Sri Lanka outside of Asia/Middle East/Central Asia and possibly from Hong Kong although that may be disputed because the US and Canada numbers are both over 200,000.

[C-Kompii]

Great work! I love these stats! Thanks a lot! Really arppeciated this!

Just wondering, would you happen to have the foreign born figures for Melbourne, Australia as well as Taiwan?

Cheers,

Danny

[Minato Ku]

I love how China is underrated in french stat. I sure that they are largely over 100,000 in Paris metro, so imagine in France (I speak of foreign born not french with chinese backroom).

It is just that for many people diversity : non white, that's sure only three European country have over 10% non white in their population : France, Netherlands and UK.
But the European immigrants also create diversity.



For example, who would've thought you'd see fairly large numbers of Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Ghanaians, Senegalese, Nigerians, etc in Italy? Many Thais and Vietnamese in Germany...Chileans, Somalis, Iranians in Sweden...etc

Of course if you add the immigrant stock (children of the foreign born), I'd imagine that the numbers may be even doubled or more.

Not in Italy, immigration is very recent and kids are not numberous, there is not actually a real second generation.
It is the case for France, Uk, Sweden but not Italy, Spain where the immigration is new.
Sweden is not know for being homogenious, it is also the case of Germany.


to the OP. what i am saying about the bias is something that is inherent to the statistics, which may well have a bias toward recording permanent or long-term settlers from foreign countries, something i see as more common in North America (for a number of geographic/legal reasons) than in Europe. of course there's exceptions, a japanese businessman sent over to LA for a year to set-up a branch of a Jap business, but there's also mexicans who, due to their legal status, can't even leave the country to visit family or go on holiday. In the EU i'd say a majority of migrants are temporary and it is less likely these people would be recorded on an official census or survey.

It is maybe the case for many east European in London or Latin American in Spain or immigrant in Irland.
Ireland see a decrease of immigrant population, the number of eastern european immigrant also decrease in London.
But in France (and in most of other European country) the very large majority of immigrants come to live.
I don't know why many have this idea of homogenious Europe where immigration is new. Mass immigration in France is as old as Canada or USA.
In the 1930's France had an higher ratio of foreign born than the USA.
These immigrants were so successfully assimiled that nobody remember of it.

[johnnypd]

It is maybe the case for many east European in London or Latin American in Spain or immigrant in Irland.
Ireland see a decrease of immigrant population, the number of eastern european immigrant also decrease in London.
But in France (and in most of other European country) the very large majority of immigrants come to live.
I don't know why many have this idea of homogenious Europe where immigration is new. Mass immigration in France is as old as Canada or USA.
In the 1930's France had an higher ratio of foreign born than the USA.
These immigrants were so successfully assimiled that nobody remember of it.

i don't know, i know so many brits in Paris but only know of one who 'lives' there. the rest go back and forth so i doubt they'd ever be counted. i spend around half the year in the US but i know i wouldnt be recorded on their stats, though the majority of brits i know over here in LA live here permanently. the number of Aussies in london is likely to be underestimated for this reason.

mass immigration in the UK is old too (obviously, as with everywhere, you can go back to pre-history!), remember irish migration was huge in the victorian era but nobody ever mentions this, cos after at least two generations of assimilation these people don't really continue to constitute 'diversity' (i fall into this category myself).

also, a general comment. in my personal experience i tend to find paris more 'multi-ethnic' than London, though less 'multi-cultural'.

[Swede]

In the EU i'd say a majority of migrants are temporary and it is less likely these people would be recorded on an official census or survey.
So you're saying the actual number of foreigners (even without tourists) is actually higher in European cities?
By far the most of immigrants to Sweden, at least, are here to stay. Very few have gone back to Bosnia since the war ended there and the same thing goes for Iraqi Kurds (having Kurdistan ministers speaking Swedish is cool though) or all the Irani here (many came right after the revolution, My hood has many so I grew up with 2nd generation Irani-Swedes, now 3rd generation coming strong).


@Urbanguy, my source for my list is the official stats at www.stockholm.se (http://www.usk.stockholm.se/arsbok/b059.htm)

[HomeInMyShoes]

Kudos Urbanguy.

[Kingofthehill]

It's easy to deflate L.A.'s status as a top tier immigration center in the world because of its heavy share of immigrants coming from a single country (Mexico.) But I think in a more meaningful civic sense you look at the sheer numbers of other immigrants and you see L.A. has quite a few groups over 100,000+ and several more 50,000+. At those numbers immigration groups become substantial communities within their metros, and there are really only a few cities that can claim those numbers. New York really is the most international city. It's amazing and its very obvious if you've ever gone to NYC and seen it for yourself at the street level.

Word.

600,000 Persian,100,000s of Chinese/Filipinos,200,000 Koreans, 300,000+ Thai, 80,00 Armenians, 60,000 Ethiopians, random Central Americans,etc. But it is disproportionately Mexican more than anything.

[Cambridgite]

So what is the 24% foreign-born figure for New York? The CSA...MSA?

I find it hard to believe my little Region of 520,000 is almost as much of a per-capita immigrant hotspot (23%) as NYC.

[staff]

None of these countries are perceived as homogenous by anyone with even a smidgen of knowledge of Western Europe.

Foreign-born population is just one piece of the overall puzzle. These countries are much more homogenous than the U.S., because they are overwhelmingly white, and most of their immigration is from neighboring European nations.
Judging from various posts on these forums, Sweden for example is definitely perceived as a "cold" and "homogeneous" country.

No one has claimed that Sweden, Switzerland or Austria are particularly diverse, only that they all have higher percentages of foreign born population than the United States. I think that is very surprising to a lot of people.

[krudmonk]

Last I saw a thread like this, Miami and SJ metros were leading the pack in foreign-born residents per capita. Neither stat is given here. Nice work*.

*sarcasm directed at the statisticians, not the original poster.

[Tom In Chicago]

Wow. . . 10,000 Iraqi's in Chicagoland? That's not hard to beleive, but certainly there are 10 times that many in the Detroit metro area no? I'd be interested to find out. . .

Anyhow interesting excersise. . . I'm curious though. . . my mother is foreign born (Germany) and lives in Chicagoland. . . she moved here in 1970 and has since gotten U.S. citizenship. . . how does the census bureau keep track of things like that and how would it apply to this list. . . I'm not sure I understand where the numbers for the U.S. actually come from. . .

It's likely I missed something obvious so please accept my apology in advance if so. . .

[Echo Park]

Keep 'em coming, Urbanguy.

There's a lot to hate about the U.S., but that its a nation of immigrants is something I always been proud about. But even that status is in contention when you consider current immigration policy makes it difficult for skilled immigrants to come over, making them opt for coutnries like Canada instead.

[VivaLFuego]

Keep 'em coming, Urbanguy.

There's a lot to hate about the U.S., but that its a nation of immigrants is something I always been proud about. But even that status is in contention when you consider current immigration policy makes it difficult for skilled immigrants to come over, making them opt for coutnries like Canada instead.

There are still tons of skilled immigrants coming here, it's just that demand is so high there aren't enough slots to go around. Increasing the number of slots sounds tempting, but we're already at one of the highest rates of immigration the country has ever seen, rivaling the early parts of the 20th century on a percentage basis (and of course, the highest ever in terms of absolute numbers).

Canada allows more immigrants relative to their own population, but it's even harder to immigrate to Canada than the U.S. because there are many fewer spots. My Indian girlfriend's family has been in the Canadian immigration process for nearly 10 years, but could get into the U.S. rather easily if so desired due to both employment and family relations that are already here.

There really are two major axes of immigration issues in the country right now: illegal vs. legal, and skilled vs. unskilled. It's a lot to think about policy-wise but unfortunately it always seems to devolve into polemics.

[lfc4life]

great work

just something small, i saw you have ireland 2006 down as 3.5 millon but the population in 2006 is recorded as 4.24 million for the country, the population of the country hasn't been 3.5 million since about 1994

just did a quick look through the cso and the figures for foreign born living in ireland for 2006

UK born 287,071
USA born 32,380
Other countries 350,650

http://www.cso.ie/statistics/Population1901-2006.htm

[Urbanguy]

Thanks everyone. I just wanted to let you all know that I did some minor touch-ups for the cities. The data remains unchanged but I fixed some minor spelling errors and other details to make it a little prettier.

C-Kompii, I've posted stats for Melbourne and Taipei one either page 1 or page 3 of this thread so you can check it out there.

lfc4life, sorry about that I just noticed the error that 3.6 mil figure is of those born in the Irish Republic only. I forgot to add the foreign or non-IR born figures. The rest of the figures I posted look to be correct though but they are only of 'people who are usual residents' on census night. I chose that data because it was more extensive but obviously did not put a disclaimer for it. :( My mind is overloaded with stats and a lot of translating for some countries at the moment. :P

So here's an update with some corrections and clarifications for Ireland (thanks lfc for the heads up). Old South Africa data thrown in as a bonus. I also have data for like 2001 for SA but it's not as detailed (only by world regions not countries) as 1996 which I got from the UN Statistical Division.

So for those who may have missed it. The first figures of Ireland I posted originally and now are only of those who are usual residents of Ireland and were present on the Census count night only. The second and not-so-detailed box is of the total resident population of Ireland and total foreign-born (all citizens present or travelling but call IR home).

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/1958/countrieseditedgh5.jpg

BTW I will post more data, hopefully after the holiday weekend (sooner if time permits). Also, I have data for country and state/provincial/canton/district/county/city-state level more so than city or metro areas (due to limited data release), so if there's a country, state/province, county of that you'd like to see... just let me know and i'll try to post it here for ya.

The countries that I have the most extensive data for down to metro or city levels are mainly from the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Italy and Spain (maybe a few more).

I don't have detailed data for New Zealand cities. The details are only down to region or continental levels but there is very detailed data for the whole country.

BTW thanks Swede for the Stockholm link. :)

[muppet]

London is hugely underrepresented by the 2001 census (which was laughable in the numbers it failed to count). I've heard it's gone from 30% to around 45%? today. Its 50-60% foreign born in the centre and 30% foreign born in the outer boroughs.

[C-Kompii]

C-Kompii, I've posted stats for Melbourne and Taipei one either page 1 or page 3 of this thread so you can check it out there.



Oops, I didn't scroll to the far right (my screen only saw 3 columns instead of 4) that was why I missed it when I first looked at it, my bad :P

Thanks once again.

Cheers,

Danny

[SHiRO]

Absolutely amazing work Urbanguy!

Kudos!

[dimondpark]

So what is the 24% foreign-born figure for New York? The CSA...MSA?

I find it hard to believe my little Region of 520,000 is almost as much of a per-capita immigrant hotspot (23%) as NYC.

What I found interesting is the fact that California has more foreign born than the entire Northeast.

[Miu]

Foreign-born population as a percentage of total population of selected OECD countries, 2005:

Australia 23,8
Switzerland 23,8
New Zealand 19,4
Canada 19,1
Austria 13,5
Germany 12,9 (2003)
United States 12,9
Sweden 12,4
Belgium 12,1
Ireland 11,0
Netherlands 10,6
United Kingdom 9,7
Norway 8,2
France 8,1
Denmark 6,5
Portugal 6,3
Czech Republic 5,1
Slovak Republic 3,9 (2004)
Finland 3,4
Hungary 3,3
Mexico 0,4

http://lysander.sourceoecd.org/vl=888491/cl=14/nw=1/rpsv/factbook/010302.htm

[Miu]

Row 3: Here's a bunch of stastitics at the national level from around the globe. Hope you'll enjoy. :)
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/360/countries1xu0.jpg


Those are great, but the table for Germany shows the foreign population. As of 2006, Germany had a foreign-born population of 10,431,000.

[arlekin_m]

^
Yeah, I noticed that too, but I wouldn't say DF has lots of Koreans or Afro-Caribbeans.

I see plenty of Asians (though most look Chinese rather than Korean), but I very rarely see blacks in DF.

I think the blacks in DF are black Mexicans, not immigrants.

There are black Mexicans who live along the Gulf of Mexico and are descendents of slaves. They are typically concentrated around Veracruz.

well i guess you don't wonder out of polanco or santa fe much... i live in the northern part of the city (aragon) and fairly recently i've started noticing a lot of black people, especially men, that do not look at all like typical black mexicans... there are some in my neighborhood, and they're cuban, and at my school there is a sizeable african exchange-student community, so that is what got me wondering

[Crawford]

What I found interesting is the fact that California has more foreign born than the entire Northeast.

That isn't surprising at all. Only the New York area is a major immigrant center in the Northeast. The other major cities do not have unusually high immigrant proportions.

Certainly there are many immigrants in Boston, Philly, DC, but not to the level of NY, LA, and SF. Also, some of the immigrants will not be counted, depending on definition of the Northeast. Nearly half of the DC immigrant population is in Northern Virginia, which counts as the South. Finally, rural areas in the Northeast do not have the huge agricultural industry of California, which is heavily Mexican and Central American.

California, mostly due to its border with Mexico (but also somewhat as the gateway to East Asia), has high immigrant proportions throughout all the urban areas (and even most rural areas) of the state.

Additionally, the major Latino ethnicity in the Northeast is Puerto Rican, which doesn't count as immigrant, while Mexicans dominate California. One is not really more "foreign" than the other, but Mexicans count and PR does not.

[Cambridgite]

Being on the forefront of the Mexico invasion (what is it, 12 million illegals in the USA?), I'm not surprised California has a massive foreign-born population. I would think New York's immigrant population is more diversified though. What's strange about New York is how much higher their foreign-born % is in the inner city (24% in the MSA vs. 46% in NYC). In my city, the central parts are somewhat whiter and more Canadian-born than the suburbs. Same thing in Toronto.

[Crawford]

Those are great, but the table for Germany shows the foreign population. As of 2006, Germany had a foreign-born population of 10,431,000.

Ok, but the difference is due to the ethnic Germans who were living in foreign nations who now live in Germany.

I wouldn't count them as immigrants, as they are returning Germans.

[Crawford]

well i guess you don't wonder out of polanco or santa fe much... i live in the northern part of the city (aragon) and fairly recently i've started noticing a lot of black people, especially men, that do not look at all like typical black mexicans... there are some in my neighborhood, and they're cuban, and at my school there is a sizeable african exchange-student community, so that is what got me wondering

Maybe you're right. There are definitely Cubans in Mexico. Maybe also a few Dominicans or even Africans. I don't know Aragon, so I cannot comment. DF is so huge that I could be missing some immigrant groups. The only places in the north I know very well are Satellite and Cuiutitlan (ok, technically suburbs).

Though I still think the overall numbers aren't that big. Yes, I live in Polanco and work in a nice area, but I see the "real DF" too. I am not totally isolated with only richer folks.

I ride the Metro and the Metrobus (mostly down to Perisur area, though I admit Insurgentes Sur is mostly middle class or rich), and I am in Terminal Norte every few weeks. I walk the streets all over the city, even in poorer areas. I have even walked around Tepito. I do not see many blacks.

[Austinlee]

Dubai is crazy: 1,056,000 out of 1,200,000? That's amazing.

I had no idea Indians were the largest immigrant group in Toronto either. Interesting stuff.

Also interesting to see that every major German city has a large amount of Turkey immigrants.

[JManc]

most american cities have mexicans as largest immigrant groups and most mexican cities have americans as their largest foriegn population.

we really are trading countries!

[BrighamYen]

a japanese businessman sent over to LA for a year to set-up a branch of a Jap business,


"Jap," and why it shouldn't used...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap

[Urbanguy]

Miu, where did you find that information for Germany? Do you speak German. My sources for Germany are Federal Statistical Office, Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. Germanic Languages like German, Dutch, etc aren't among the languages that I speak but I know all the key words (Bevölkerung, Ausländer, etc) to find the information I need in those languages because the data is more extensive in the native languages of these sites and usually correct.

For example, Spanish is one of the languages that I speak and I found mistakes for the 2007 data for place of birth (for Spain's cities) in English versus the Spanish version. In English, Cyprus had Bulgaria's numbers and there were a couple of other country figures that were accidently mismatched.

Here's the link to the foreign population that I got for -> Germany's foreign population (http://www.statistik-portal.de/Statistik-Portal/en/en_jb01_jahrtab2.asp). It is dated 31 Dec. 2006.

BTW, I appreciate the heads up, it's easy to make mistakes going through so much information especially when there's conflicting data from the same source (as I've found many times). :koko:

Okay, here goes...another round for the weekend. Enjoy.

Updates and Corrections to: Argentina, Buenos Aires, Birmingham (4 July 2008).

Row 1: I had to make some major corrections to Buenos Aires as the first post of data seemed to have included country of citizenship/nationality. However, this new set and for all these other cities in Argentina are of non-Argentine "places of birth" only.
http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/5144/statistics28arcitieswd9.jpg

Row 2: I had to make corrections to Birmingham as well. The short and first list seemed to have been flawed and may have included country of citizenship. Anyhow, this data is by place/country of birth! So it's all good now.
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/1900/statistics29rw5.jpg

Row 3:
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/1548/statistics30ey6.jpg

Row 4: ...And finally some comprehensive data from the Middle East! Go China! I don't think there is a major city or country out there where there are no Chinese or Americans. ;)
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/7310/statistics31xw6.jpg

Row 5: …Some more from Italia!
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/6022/statistics32vl1.jpg

Row 6: Here's an extension of Argentina's foreign-born statistics to the Top 25 and finally a full 25 from the Middle East! Hello Kingdom of Jordan. :) BTW the Palestine and Iraq numbers seem extremely low given the fact that there's so much conflict nearby.
http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/7347/countriesiipq3.jpg

[Urbanguy]

Sadly, Argentina and other places like Brasil and Chile aren't the immigrant magnets that they used to be. Just 40 years ago Argentina had a foreign-born population of over 2.6 million or 12.62% of it's population one of the highest in the world but those days are long gone and the numbers continue to drop as the older generation of immigrants die off. And oh yeah those numbers of Korea for Argentina are of Communist North Korea which I found quite interesting because there are numbers for South Korea as well but they are much lower.

[emathias]

...
For example, who would've thought you'd see fairly large numbers of Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Ghanaians, Senegalese, Nigerians, etc in Italy? Many Thais and Vietnamese in Germany...Chileans, Somalis, Iranians in Sweden...etc
...

Stockholm and Sweden have always been more international than a lot of people think of them as being. Part of that is reflected in the fact that a lot of Swedes spend time overseas. Another reflection of that is that the current royalty in Sweden was imported from France - that's right, the current Swedish royal family is of French, not Swedish, descent.

[emathias]

Being on the forefront of the Mexico invasion (what is it, 12 million illegals in the USA?), I'm not surprised California has a massive foreign-born population. I would think New York's immigrant population is more diversified though. What's strange about New York is how much higher their foreign-born % is in the inner city (24% in the MSA vs. 46% in NYC). In my city, the central parts are somewhat whiter and more Canadian-born than the suburbs. Same thing in Toronto.

The U.S. is heading that direction, too, and I don't know Toronto's historical reception of immigrants, but New York has such a long history of immigration that a lot of the main "landing sites" like Chinatown or Little Italy or what have you are in the city proper. Any city that doesn't have a historic base would probably have immigrants landing in the suburbs first since that's where most of the population growth in general is going on. I think immigrants are also more likely to land in places with good public transportation since they may or may not be able to drive when they first arrive.

[Urbanguy]

Just as an FYI everybody, the statistics for Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol and Sheffield were only limited to approximately 45 countries of birth so their Top 25s may not be entirely accurate but close I suppose. I used the terms Baltic States, former USSR (in Europe) and former USSR (in Asia) to come up with Soviet Union (former) for those cities as well. As for Manchester that is the true Top 25 as I got that data from the city's website.

[Rusty van Reddick]

I had no idea Indians were the largest immigrant group in Toronto either. Interesting stuff.

Indians are now the largest source of immigration for Canada, period.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Okay, let's put two myths to bed:

1. "There are 80,000 Americans in Calgary" (yes we hear this all the time in local and national media). Nope, not even close- and even if every person in this CMA on a temporary work visa were American (which is not REMOTELY true) the most we would find here would be about 20,000.

2. "Calgary has more Americans, per capita, than any other city in the world outside of the US." Nope, Tijuana has roughly TRIPLE our rate.

Calgary isn't even the most "American" Canadian city. On these charts, it's Vancouver, but there are also cities not included here, like St Catharines and Windsor Ontario, that have more Americans, per capita, than does Calgary.

[J. Will]

Being on the forefront of the Mexico invasion (what is it, 12 million illegals in the USA?), I'm not surprised California has a massive foreign-born population. I would think New York's immigrant population is more diversified though. What's strange about New York is how much higher their foreign-born % is in the inner city (24% in the MSA vs. 46% in NYC). In my city, the central parts are somewhat whiter and more Canadian-born than the suburbs. Same thing in Toronto.

The numbers I've seen have NYC at 37% foreign born, not 46%.

[Urbanguy]

Crawford, yep i'm pretty sure that you're right about that for Germany because there were hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans that migrated to Germany from the former Soviet Union Republics like Kazakhstan, well, the Volga region. And after more digging and confusion the term foreigner for the German figures are of people with foreign-citizenship.

Here are some details about the foreign population in Germany:

The results of the statistics of foreigners for 2007 are based on the automatic evaluation of the Central Register of Foreigners (AZR ) by the Federal Statistical Office. The registry authority of the AZR is the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), while the register is kept at the Federal Office of Administration. The Central Register on Foreigners records foreigners who are resident in Germany and have registered with the aliens authorities, broken down by citizenship, status under residence law, duration of residence, age and marital status. In addition to that, information on the overall population – that is the German and foreign population – is available from population adjustment, which builds on the population census conducted on 25 May 1987 and – for the territory of the former GDR – on a register extract of the former Central Population Register (ZER) of 3 October 1990 and is based on the data reported by the registration authorities of the Länder. However, the official updating of the population does not provide information on individual citizenships but only data on age and marital status. Therefore, the results produced by evaluating the Central Register of Foreigners are used to obtain such figures.

BTW I'm really confused as I just mentioned by the Germany figures. Okay for one they are not necessarily of foreign-born but i've seen at least 3 different figures of the so called foreign population from the same source:

1. 7,255,949
2. 6,751,002
3. 6,744,879

...So let's just say that Germany has 7 million foreigners by citizenship and when I do my next update, I'll leave the foreign number out! :P