In the academic year 2021/2022, there were 948,519 international students studying in the United States. A number that returned to growth after there were about 914,000 international students in the United States in 2020/2021. In today’s article we are going to analyze how many international students are studying in the United States and how they have grown over time.
International Students in US by Country of Origin
What are the top nations in the world for the number of international students to the United States?
Also in the 2021/2022 academic year, the nation with the largest number of international students in the United States was China. In fact, a total of 290,896 students came from China. Chinese students account for 29.54% of international students in the US. A stable figure now for ten years that peaked in 2019/2020 were as many as 372,532. In second place, on the other hand, we find India with 199,182 students, almost 200,000 in the year 2021/2022 alone. This figure is up from 2020/2021 and is almost India’s record. If we add China and India together these two Asian nations account for 51.67 percent of the total number of international students in the United States.
In third position is another Asian country: South Korea. More than 40,000 international students come from South Korea to the United States. Breaking the dominance of Asian countries is a neighbouring country to the United States: Canada with 27,000 students. In the top 15 countries for number of international students in the United States in 2021/2022, however, we have a new nation: Bangladesh. This nation ranks 13th overall with 10,597 students.
International Students in U.S. per years
Above we saw which nations are the top in the world in terms of the number of international students in the United States. Let’s take a step back. How many international students in the United States are there today? And how has the number of students changed over the years? To answer this question, it is interesting to see the graph below that shows the number of international students in the United States from as far back as 1948/49 to 2021/22.
Globally, the number of international students studying in the U.S. in the academic year 2021/2022 was 948,519. This is up from 2020/2021 where, due to restrictions caused by the pandemic, the number had dropped by more than 160,000. The record year still remains 2018/2019 when students reached almost 1.1 million: 1,095,299 to be precise. But how has the number evolved over time? The first time the million students was exceeded was in the 2015/2016 academic year when it was 1,043,839. The 500,000 number, however, was exceeded with the arrival of the new millennium. In fact, in 1999/2000 students came to be 514,723. However, the U.S. has always been a popular destination: back in 1949/1950, shortly after the end of World War II, the number of International Students in the U.S. was over 26,000.
In 1949/1950 the first nation was Canada, with 4362 students. This was followed by Taiwan, India and some of the major European powers including the United Kingdom in fourth position, Germany in eighth and France in 12th. But in the top positions we also find Mexico, Cuba, the Philippines and Iran. This goes to show how the United States has always been a country that has attracted skills from all over the world.
International students in the U.S. 2021/2022
Over the years, the number of international students in the United States has continued to increase. A curious fact is that there are 220 countries in the world where students come from. They reach, for example, to countries such as San Marino or Tuvalu, via the Caribbean or North Korea.
While China and India currently account for over 50% of the total, the situation was different in 2000. Students from these two nations were “only” 20.9 percent of the total. But with growth and globalization more and more Chinese and Indian students have chosen the U.S. to do formaizon pathways.
Top Institutions Hosting International Students
The overall data of international students in the United States from 1948 to 2022 and the different areas of origin were analyzed. But what are the most popular universities for international students in the United States in 2021/2022?
The first university in the United States in terms of the number of international students in 2021/2022 is New York University. There are 21,081 students from all over the world studying at this university. Next is Northeastern University-Boston with 17,836 students and in third position, also in New York, is Columbia University with a total of 16,956 international students in 2021/2022.
U.S. states by international student population
One last data point. International students in which U.S. states do they study? Here we are helped by an infographic realzied by Open Doors International Students. California and New York together host more than 25 percent of the total number of international students in the U.S. In the 2020/2021 academic year there were 132,758 international students in California and 106,894 in New York. Following the other states are: Texas, Massachusetts, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio,Michigan, and Indiana, which closes the tenth position with 23,948 international students.
To make the video and the different tables I used data from this database: https://opendoorsdata.org/data/international-students/all-places-of-origin/
The database is very well organized and has very interesting data. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the subject.
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