Highest Population Living Abroad

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Ireland has the highest percentage of people living abroad

March 04, 2016
Posted by: Simon Hodgkins, Chief Marketing Officer, Vistatec

At Vistatec HQ in Dublin, Ireland we work with many highly recognizable brands and companies around the world.

​​​With our solutions and services currently covering over 150 languages within many cultures and countries, it was interesting to come across this chart and information from the OECD and Statista​ on countries with the most people living overseas.​

​​​​​​​Ireland has the highest percentage of people living abroad out of all OECD​ countries. One out of every six Irish-born people currently resides in another country. Obviously the global financial crisis has impacted these figures to some degree with more recent Irish emigration falling slightly, but it remains high with 35,300 people leaving in the 12 months to April 2015. (This represented a 13% drop on the previous year.)

New Zealand 14.1%, Portugal 14% and Mexico 12% are also high with large percentages of their native-born populations living abroad.​

This chart shows the % of the native-born population living abroad in 2014.

Many Irish emigrants moved to the UK, with Australia, the United States, Spain and Germany also proving popular destinations. In 2013 770,000 people born in Ireland were living in other countries.

Source: OECD, Statista, Pew Research Centre, The Journal.ie

Image: CC BY @StatistaCharts