Foreign born

Foreign-born 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 the Gulf Cooperation Council states, for example, have no right to citizenship no matter the length of their residence. In Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, 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:

"born in a country other than that in which one resides."
"foreign by birth."

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.
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."

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 Holy See is unique in having 100% of its population foreign-born. The region with the highest rate of foreign-born residents is Oceania, with 21%, while Asia has less than 1%.
Countries with immigration rates above 25% tend to be wealthy countries with relatively open migration or labour laws, including Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland 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.

Countries with the largest foreign-born populations

Direct figures on Pakistan's total foreign-born population are unavailable. However, estimates for specific immigrant communities can be found, which are as follows: 8.4% - 10% Indians, 1.6% - 2% Afghans, 1% Bengalis, 0.1 - 0.2% Burmese

Countries with largest refugee populations

Metropolitan and urban regions with the largest foreign-born populations

Data for the cities listed below is from numerous sources.

Rank	Metropolitan region / urban area	Country	Foreign-born population	Sources of immigrants
1	New York metropolitan area	United States	5,892,000	China, India, Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Ecuador, Guyana, Philippines, South Korea, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Italy, Colombia, Poland, Russia, Pakistan, Brazil, Cuba, Nigeria, Ghana, Greece
2	London and the home counties	United Kingdom	5,623,701	India, Poland, Bangladesh, Romania, Pakistan, Italy, Turkey, Nigeria, Ireland, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, China, France, Ghana, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, United States, Greece, Kenya, Canada
3	Los Angeles Metropolitan Area	United States	5,541,000	Mexico, Philippines, El Salvador, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Iran, Armenia, India, Taiwan, Nigeria, Colombia, Japan, United Kingdom, Canada
4	Greater Toronto Area	Canada	3,231,295	India, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Italy, Iran, United Kingdom, Guyana, Portugal, Vietnam, Poland, South Korea, United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Iraq, Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Egypt, Nigeria, Greece, Romania
5	Paris metropolitan area	France	3,041,148	Algeria, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, Spain, Romania, Turkey, China, Italy, Mali, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Cameroon, Martinique, Ivory Coast
6	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	2,793,450	China, Indonesia, Philippines, Macau, Thailand, United Kingdom, France, India, Pakistan, Japan, United States, Canada
7	San Francisco Bay Area	United States	2,634,270	Mexico, China, Philippines, Vietnam, India, El Salvador, Guatemala, South Korea, Taiwan, Iran, Russia, Japan, Nicaragua
8	Sydney Greater Capital City Statistical Area	Australia	2,071,872	China, United Kingdom, India, New Zealand, Vietnam, Philippines, South Korea, Lebanon, Sri Lanka
9	Miami metropolitan area	United States	1,949,629	Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Canada, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Brazil, Panama, Peru, Argentina
10	Melbourne Greater Capital City Statistical Area	Australia	1,801,139	India, China, Vietnam, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Italy, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Greece, Philippines, South Africa, Hong Kong, Afghanistan
11	Chicago metropolitan area	United States	1,625,649	Mexico, India, Poland, Philippines, China, Palestine, Ukraine, Italy, Guatemala, Lithuania, Ghana, Nigeria, Jamaica, Cuba, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago
12	Brussels Urban Area	Belgium	1,441,600	France, Romania, Morocco, Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Bulgaria, Germany, DR Congo, Guinea
13	Singapore	Singapore	1,305,011	Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Myanmar, South Korea
14	Berlin Urban Area	Germany	1,231,500	Turkey, Russia, Poland, Syria, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, France, Vietnam, United Kingdom
15	Metro Vancouver	Canada	1,222,460	Hong Kong, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, Iran, Pakistan, Poland, United Kingdom, Italy, United States
16	Greater Montreal	Canada	1,184,620	Algeria, Morocco, Romania, France, Haiti, Lebanon, Philippines, Vietnam, Italy, China, India
17	Moscow	Russia	1,128,035	Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Belarus
18	Houston metropolitan area	United States	1,113,875	Mexico, El Salvador, Vietnam, India, Nigeria, China, Honduras, Philippines, Myanmar, Guatemala, Colombia
19	Metropolitan Dubai	United Arab Emirates	1,056,000	India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Iran, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom
20	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	1,054,000	Arab League, Pakistan, India, African Union, Bangladesh, Iran
21	Washington metropolitan area	United States	1,017,432	El Salvador, China, Ethiopia, Mexico, South Korea, Nigeria, Philippines, Vietnam, Ghana, Bolivia
22	Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex	United States	1,016,221	Mexico, India, Vietnam, El Salvador, China, South Korea, Honduras, Philippines
23	Frankfurt Urban Area	Germany	998,400	Turkey, Italy, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Russia, North Macedonia
24	Tokyo Urban Area	Japan	978,172	China, South Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, United States, Brazil, Nepal, Taiwan, Peru, Thailand
25	Santiago Metropolitan Region	Chile	938,904	Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Haiti, Argentina
26	Birmingham Urban Area	United Kingdom	902,438	India, Pakistan, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Poland, Bangladesh, Romania, China, Italy, Albania, Nigeria, Somalia
27	Barcelona Urban Area	Spain	862,200	Italy, Pakistan, China, Ecuador, Bolivia, Morocco, France, Honduras, Argentina
28	Atlanta metropolitan area	United States	861,208	Mexico, India, Jamaica, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Nigeria, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia
29	Brisbane Greater Capital City Statistical Area	Australia	731,198	New Zealand, England, China, India, South Africa, Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Scotland, Malaysia
30	Stockholm County	Sweden	681,538	Iraq, Finland, Poland, Iran, Syria, Turkey, India, Ukraine, China, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Chile, Somalia, Pakistan, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia, Thailand, Ethiopia, Greece, United States, Romania
31	Auckland Urban Area	New Zealand	662,298	United Kingdom, China, India, Fiji, Samoa, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka
32	Muscat	Oman	571,000	Philippines, Pakistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
33	Amsterdam metropolitan area	Netherlands	554,530	Morocco, Turkey, Suriname, Poland, Ghana, Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Germany, India, Curacao
34	Madrid	Spain	512,218	Ecuador, Venezuela, Paraguay, Morocco, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru
35	Calgary Metropolitan Region	Canada	488,740	India, Pakistan, Philippines, United States, Nigeria, China, Lebanon, Vietnam, United Kingdom, South Korea, Iran, Hong Kong, Ethiopia, Germany, European Union
36	Milan Urban Area	Italy	475,000	Egypt, Philippines, China, Romania, Sri Lanka
37	Edmonton Metropolitan Region	Canada	389,490	China, Pakistan, India, Somalia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Lebanon
38	National Capital Region	Canada	349,005	Italy, Pakistan, India
39	Phoenix	United States	346,430	Mexico, Guatemala, Philippines, Germany, Romania, Vietnam, Bosnia and Herz., Ethiopia
40	Hamburg Metropolitan Region	Germany	332,473	Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Italy, Spain, Ghana
41	San Diego	United States	325,819	Philippines, China, Mexico
42	Greater Manchester	United Kingdom	302,000	Pakistan, China, Ireland, Bangladesh, Poland, Nigeria, India, Somalia, Jamaica, Iraq
43	Winnipeg Metropolitan Region	Canada	238,170	China, United Kingdom, Lebanon, United States, India, Philippines, Vietnam, Pakistan, Syria, Haiti, Iran, Somalia, Egypt, Italy, Iraq, DR Congo, Germany, Jamaica, Russia, Hong Kong
44	Helsinki	Finland	213,290	Russia, Estonia, Somalia, Iraq, Sweden, China, Yugoslavia, Vietnam, India, Turkey
45	Philadelphia	United States	179,444	Ukraine, China, Dominican Republic, Liberia, Vietnam, Jamaica, Mexico
46	Boston	United States	161,740	China, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Cape Verde, Russia, India
47	Hannover–Braunschweig–Göttingen–Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region	Germany	132,684	Turkey, Serbia, Ukraine, Greece, Russia, Italy, Spain
48	Seattle	United States	105,154	China, Mexico, Somalia, South Korea, Philippines, Russia, Colombia, Ukraine
49	Charlotte	United States	96,734	China, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico, India, Honduras
50	Denver	United States	95,985	Mexico, India, Vietnam, Russia, Germany, Ethiopia, Guatemala
51	Geneva	Switzerland	77,602	France, Spain, Germany