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Riccardo
May 214 min read

Crossing that Border! Surprising Facts About Expats and Immigrants (+ the Italian diaspora)

What is an expat?

First things first, what do we talk about when referring to expats? According to the Oxford dictionary an expat (short from expatriate) is “a person living in a country that is not their own, usually by choice” - quite literally out of the word’s latin roots ex (out) patria (native country). The definition is close enough to fit that of another term: immigrant. The distinction between expat and immigrant can indeed be extremely thin at times, and the dividing line between the two might soon get blurry.


With expat it is generally identified someone:

  • Who has higher education

  • Who moves temporarily (perhaps on an assignment) to another country

  • Whose move is generally linked to its profession


An immigrant instead generally bears the connotation of someone:

  • Moving to another country for good, permanently

  • Who might be fleeing the country out of persecution or conflict

  • Who has generally a stricter immigration process

  • Likely to come from an economically disadvantaged country


Facts and statistics about expats all over the world


With this distinction in mind, we will present you with some fascinating and eyebrow-raising facts and statistics tied to the world of both expats and immigrants.


  1. In 2020 around 281,000,000 people all over the world are estimated to be international migrants, which equates to 3.6% of the global population.

  2. If expats were to form a country (Expatistan, Republic of Expatiland, Kingdom of Expati - you name it) that would be the 4th most populated country, just before Indonesia

  3. The estimate for 2020 is over three times the estimate for 1970.

  4. The United Arab Emirates has one of the highest % of immigrants with 88.5% of the population being immigrants

  5. The highest absolute number of immigrants live instead in the U.S., where they are just over 50.5m. Germany comes distant second with 15.8m immigrants

  6. According to surveys, just less than 50% of expats in Germany stay longer than 3 years.

  7. In 2023 Malaga placed first as expats’ favorite city, forming an all-Spanish podium together with Alicante and Valencia

  8. According to Numbeo’s 2024 ranking, Europe steals the show when it comes to quality of life index with 9 countries in the top 10 (only exception being Oman at #5). The podium? Luxembourg, Netherlands, Iceland

  9. All around the world there are 35 million digital nomads

  10. 47% of the world’s digital nomads, or 17m, come from the U.S.

  11. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. is also the most visited country by digital nomads, followed by Spain and Thailand (beaches where are you!)

  12. Digital nomad identikit: 47% are in their 30s, 58% are men, two-thirds are white, 90% of higher education 

  13. While one in four US citizens emigrate to Europe, the two top destinations are Ecuador and Mexico



Immigration: the Italian job


Let’s have a look at immigrants from one of the countries that has spread its people across the globe the most: Italy.

Today Italy has a population of roughly 60,000,000 people, while over 80,000,000 people around the globe claim full or partial Italian ancestry! This is due to large masses of Italians that left the country from after its unification in 1861 and especially in the 30 years around 1900 and then again after WW2.


Curious to see a few fun facts? Andiamo allora!


  1. The supporters of Boca Juniors football club in Buenos Aires are called “xeneizes” because most of the original founders of the club were of Italian descent, as the southern barrio had been settled by Ligurian migrants during the 19th century. Xeneizes is indeed a deformation of "Zeneise", indicating someone from Genoa, a "Genoese" in the Ligurian language.

  2. Italians are the first ethnic group in Argentina, with around 25,000,000 Italian-argentines today (62% of the overall Argentinian population).

  3. Another glorious football club has Italian roots: Palmeiras. Founded as Palestra Italia by young Italians willing to have a club representing the Italian community, and able to face the big names of São Paulo's football elite. In 1942 during World War II, the government of President Getúlio Vargas banned any organization from using names related to the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), so the name was eventually changed into Palmeiras.

  4. The Galata tower, one of the most famous landmarks of Istanbul, was built by the Genoans in 1348 as part of the fortification around the Galata town a Genoese colony.

  5. The first three countries with the most Italian residents are Argentina (~700,000), Germany (~650,000) and Switzerland (~550,000).

  6. Behind Buenos Aires, São Paulo has the largest population of Italian citizens outside Italy. 

  7. In Brasil there is a venetian dialect called Talian. The language has left a remarkable influence especially on the southern Brazilian region of Rio Grande do Sul, where even today there are newspapers and radio programmes in talian.

  8. Between 1949 and 2000, Italians have been the third largest ethnic group, after British and Irish people, to emigrate to Australia. Around 390.000 people left the Belpaese to start a new life down under.

  9. In the US alone, there are more than 100,000 restaurants serving Italian food! National Restaurant Association | National Restaurant Association

  10. Spaghetti with meatballs is actually not an Italian dish (try not to picture Lady and the Trump now)! Although its origin stems from the southern Italian cuisine that immigrants spread especially in the U.S., in its current form, this dish was first prepared in the U.S.; same goes for pasta with chickens and chicken parmesan.

  11. Last but not least, two typically Italian traits as the aperitivo and the Italian coffee culture have been exported around the world and luckily we can now all profit from a good espresso and an Aperol spritz wherever we go ;)



Sources:

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