Countries Where Migrants Make Up Less Than 1% of the Population

What the report says

Activist Post republished a Visual Capitalist data feature dated July 23, 2026, examining countries and territories where international migrants account for a very small share of the resident population. The article says the analysis is based on 2024 figures from the UN Population Division’s International Migrant Stock dataset and focuses on places where foreign-born residents make up less than 1% of the population.

According to the report, 43 countries and territories fall below the 1% threshold. The lowest listed shares include Cuba at 0.02%, the Philippines at 0.08%, and China and Madagascar at 0.12% each. Other large-population countries in the group include India at 0.33%, Indonesia at 0.16% and Nigeria at 0.60%, which the article says helps explain why a large share of the world’s people live in low-immigration countries.

The feature also notes that the pattern extends beyond the strict 1% cutoff: 81 countries and territories have migrant shares below 3%. Japan, often described as having low immigration, is listed at 2.76%, above the article’s highlighted threshold but still within the broader low-share group.

The report contrasts these figures with higher-immigration destinations such as Canada, Australia and Switzerland, where foreign-born residents represent much larger portions of the population. As context, the article cites Our World in Data to say many international migrants move relatively short distances and often remain within the same continent, underscoring that global migration is concentrated in a limited number of destination countries.