Immigrant population of cities around the world

[Docere]

Greater London (2021 Census)

Born outside UK 3,575,740

Europe 1,122,633
Asia 1,146,247
Africa 625,071
Americas 389,436
Oceania and ROW 126,704

Country of birth (5000+)

India 322,644
Romania 175,991
Poland 149,397
Bangladesh 138,895
Pakistan 129,774
Italy 126,059
Nigeria 117,145
Ireland 96,566
Sri Lanka 80,379
France 77,715
Jamaica 75,676
Turkey 72,867
United States 71,127
Spain 68,114
Bulgaria 66,515
Somalia 66,288
Ghana 65,905
Kenya 58,020
Portugal 56,963
China 56,116
Brazil 55,787
Philippines 54,930
Germany 50,364
South Africa 47,964
Afghanistan 47,706
Lithuania 45,378
Iran 43,852
Australia 43,418
Cyprus 35,300
Greece 34,897
Albania 34,773
Hong Kong 33,760
Uganda 31,813
Iraq 30,365
Colombia 27,848
Hungary 25,955
Russia 25,770
Moldova 24,894
Nepal 22,688
Canada 21,772
Kosovo 21,687
Malaysia 20,215
Ukraine 20,129
Mauritius 20,089
Netherlands 19,507
New Zealand 19,058
Algeria 18,767
Japan 18,749
Morocco 17,642
Vietnam 17,233
Zimbabwe 17,000
Sierra Leone 16,743
Eritrea 15,563
Congo (DR) 14,903
Tanzania 14,796
Sweden 14,587
Egypt 13,995
Israel 13,028
Ethiopia 12,926
Lebanon 12,741
Latvia 12,531
Syria 12,448
Belgium 11,754
Slovakia 11,025
Guyana 10,720
Singapore 10,357
South Korea 10,051
Trinidad and Tobago 9,962
Kuwait 9,594
Sudan 9,552
Angola 9,361
Czechia 8,833
Saudi Arabia 8,100
Barbados 8,074
Argentina 7,882
Venezuela 7,846
Denmark 7,536
Austria 6,372
St. Lucia 6,082
Ivory Coast 6,044
Grenada 5,954
Norway 5,829
Zambia 5,791
Dominican Republic 5,782
Bolivia 5,782
Peru 5,625
Croatia 5,353
Serbia 5,223
Finland 5,142
Mexico 5,092

# 50000+: 23
# 20000+: 44
# 10000+: 67
# 5000: 90

[Steely Dan]

^ LOL @ Mexico coming in last.

My good friend who lives in London eats Mexican food like 5 or 6 times whenever he comes back to visit Chicago, and always complains about how the biggest drawback to living in London (other than the eye-bleeding cost of everything) is the shitty Mexican food.

[mrnyc]

before you inevitably post nyc and other cities a reminder this definition of greater london is 600 sqmi. and nyc proper is 300 sqmi..

wuhl alrighty then carry on.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ LOL @ Mexico coming in last.

My good friend who lives in London eats Mexican food like 5 or 6 times whenever he comes back to visit Chicago, and always complains about how the biggest drawback to living in London (other than the eye-bleeding cost of everything) is the shitty Mexican food.

London probably has better Lithuanian food than it does Mexican food.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

before you inevitably post nyc and other cities a reminder this definition of greater london is 600 sqmi. and nyc proper is 300 sqmi..

wuhl alrighty then carry on.

You know the old joke about the drunk looking for his key around the streetlight across the street from where he left it? He's looking there because that's where the light is.

Unfortunately there's no internationally recognized "metro area" definition used by national statistical agencies. In the UK there's very little data on "metropolitan London", data is for Greater London (600 sq miles) and the surrounding areas contain dozens of local authorities which are part of South East England and East of England regions (which are much larger than "metropolitan London").

Interestingly there's been some discussion of (very diverse) Slough joining with London, though I'm not sure what's become of that.

I'll be doing the NYC Metro Area (which is far less contentious than what's LA or San Francisco!)

[muppet]

I think London's Mexican offerings are mediocre because we always miss out a vital element, even despite places sourcing the best quality meat and veg -and that's heat. That's often left for the diner to add their own levels after, usually via tabasco or a mass produced dip. It all looks very nice, but lacks punch. Don't think I've every had a really good or authentic Mexican -I wouldn't know, because hey, not enough Mexicans.

There was one taqueira in Brixton I used to go to, run by Mexicans, famed for over 100 ingredients. But once again -no flipping heat, and now gone. It was trendy but the low prices with high demand / high sourcing, made it utterly unsustainable for a small place.

Another one with rave reviews is Santo Remedio (notably it had an ant eggs option I think), run by a Mexico City couple and on its fourth branch - affordable and priding itself on authenticity. KOL is a Michelin starred one but I'd need to be rich to go there and unfortunately can only press my nose on the glass and watch.

I had Mexican in NYC and that was lovely (prawn thing in purple taco), though not like, a world away from London. But then I likely missed out on the 670 million restaurants that did more variety then our usual taco, burrito, wraps.

The chains are Wahaca (yes, it's meant to be Oaxaca) started by a Masterchef winner, Las Iguanas (eww), Chilango (neon-soaked, 'gourmet' burritos), and Chipotle (mehhh). Taco Bell opened in pandemic, and Zambrero is popping up everywhere, a chain doing build-your-own burritos.


Beware - promotional marketing pics:

Wahaca, absolutely everywhere:




Santo Remedio -this would be your best bet




KOL, for the yacht-owning classes, and not your typical Mexican




But by far the biggest offering to your average Brit are these -supermarket wraps or burrito bowls with 'Mexican Style' crap. As limp as a bizkit, dreamt up by a marketing manager named Shirlee, and made by a chef called Unit 67-5CA.

[muppet]

For London today, the big changes since 2021 are Hong Kongers and Ukrainians who have both tripled to 110,000 and 65,000 respectively, effectively as refugees.

Nigerians have had an intense spike, from 117,000 to an estimate of 185,000, and Indians have added another 50K to 375,000. Smaller surges include Ghanians from 65,000 to 95,000, Brazilians 56,000 to 75,000, Turkish-Kurdish 73,000 to 85,000.

London (city proper) is now about 42% foreign born and 65% non native in ancestry. However it remains whether this will be stable -there have been very sharp drops in immigration from near a million in 2023 to 170,000 today, a whopping 80% reduction. This is mainly through the raising of the earnings threshold, and the continued return of EU nationals as Brexshit kicks in a decade later. Temporary student visas are no longer renewed, accounting for half of all emigrants.

Immigrant communities tend to move out to the burbs and other towns and cities after some years, while the rest of the country continues to send its young and graduates in, so London may start to reverse the non-native, foreign born trend.

[mhays]

My London relatives always want Mexican when they come to the US. Also Poke seems to be lightly supplied there so that's a recurring thing.

[Docere]

Slough (population 158,500) is 55% British-born, 36% White and 24% "White British." Nearly half are South Asian. The top countries of birth for immigrants (2021):

India 17,100
Pakistan 14,148
Poland 8,912

Watford (pop. 102,000) is also quite diverse (61% white, 25% Asian), 65% born in UK. Top countries of birth are India (4800) and Romania (4000).

[Docere]

Paris Region (2022):

Born outside Metropolitan France 3,266,572

Europe (listed countries only) 435,977
Asia (listed countries only) 279,236
Africa (listed countries only) 1,252,965
Americas (listed countries only) 195,550

Algeria 350,939
Morocco 271,884
Portugal 217,280
Tunisia 144,884
Guadeloupe 80,912
Ivory Coast 78,105
Mali 75,435
China 75,175
Martinique 74,160
Senegal 69,709
Turkey 69,281
Italy 58,787
Congo (DR) 54,091
Romania 53,305
Cameroon 51,111
Sri Lanka 46,621
Republic of the Congo 46,013
Spain 44,294
Haiti 37,548
Vietnam 36,073
India 33,770
Poland 33,235
Reunion 29,398
Cambodia 29,132
Lebanon 26,183
Guinea 23,757
Serbia 23,643
Pakistan 22,954
Brazil 22,840
Madagascar 22,791
Russia 20,847
Germany 20,255
United States 18,729
Mauritius 18,617
Colombia 18,123
United Kingdom 17,636
French Guiana 17,398
Comoros 16,231

# 50000+: 15
# 20000+: 32
# 10000+: ?
# 5000: ?

[Docere]

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area (2024 5-year estimates):

Foreign born 5,952,478

Europe 823,903
Asia 1,767,999
Africa 298,161
Oceania 17,136
Americas 3,045,279

Dominican Republic 660,122
China 452,384
India 365,069
Ecuador 283,107
Mexico 274,689
Jamaica 250,967
Colombia 203,453
Guyana 177,808
Haiti 164,625
El Salvador 159,904
Philippines 150,415
Korea 136,510
Bangladesh 126,468
Peru 112,092
Guatemala 99,735
Trinidad and Tobago 99,692
Ukraine 95,463
Poland 93,269
Italy 88,153
Honduras 85,691
Russia 80,202
Pakistan 77,040
Brazil 74,820
United Kingdom 66,817
Cuba 59,055
Egypt 54,898
Ghana 53,530
Nigeria 53,466
Canada 50,523
Hong Kong 49,459
Taiwan 40,351
Venezuela 37,227
Germany 37,065
Israel 36,513
Portugal 35,480
Uzbekistan 35,285
Japan 34,423
Albania 32,163
Turkey 32,084
Greece 30,980
France 29,374
Ireland 29,179
Argentina 26,416
Vietnam 26,167
Barbados 24,682
Spain 22,154
Costa Rica 20,987
Iran 19,741
Romania 19,676
Chile 18,808
Panama 18,680
Belarus 18,474
Nepal 18,456
Morocco 15,612
Georgia 15,103
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 15,018
Nicaragua 14,295
Australia 13,651
St. Lucia 13,095
Yemen 12,733
Malaysia 12,639
Uruguay 12,094
Syria 11,874
Dominica 11,318
Czechoslovakia 10,728
Hungary 10,661
South Africa 10,320
Lebanon 10,073
Senegal 9,831
Thailand 8,905
Sri Lanka 8,903
Myanmar 8,802
Indonesia 8,190
Macedonia 8,131
Belize 7,889
Jordan 7,876
Croatia 7,868
Bolivia 7,752
Kenya 7,387
Kazakhstan 7,088
Afghanistan 6,793
Ivory Coast 6,782
Moldova 6,725
Azerbaijan 6,308
Bulgaria 6,202
Liberia 5,873
Serbia 5,820
Ethiopia 5,799
Netherlands 5,623
Switzerland 5,409
Austria 5,323
Algeria 5,309

# 50000+: 29
# 20000+: 47
# 10000+: 68
# 5000+: 92

[Crawford]

It isn't shocking, but wow, the immigrant mixes in NYC and Paris are quite distinct.

[mrnyc]

nyc metro area?

i dk what that is? ive seen it from jersey shore past newark to scranton to danbury to new haven, and god knows how far upstate people count.

csa? msa?

wiki has it at over 6k sq miles, whatever it is.

i find it hard to believe there are only 2M+ more foreign born than the 10x smaller 600 sq mi. of greater london.

what gives? i would guess these vast areas surrounding the 300 sq mi of new york city have far more foreign born than just the city, no?

i understand we cant easily do apples to apples here, just trying to clarify the types of apples.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

nyc metro area?

i dk what that is? ive seen it from jersey shore past newark to scranton to danbury to new haven, and god knows how far upstate people count.

csa? msa?

wiki has it at over 6k sq miles, whatever it is.

i find it hard to believe there are only 2M+ more foreign born than the 10x smaller 600 sq mi. of greater london.

what gives? i would guess these vast areas surrounding the 300 sq mi of new york city have far more foreign born than just the city, no?

i understand we cant easily do apples to apples here, just trying to clarify the types of apples.

There you are upsetting the apple cart.

Kidding.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by montréaliste

There you are upsetting the apple cart.

Kidding.

sorry! sorry! i’m apple pie faced! i’ll see myself out.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

sorry! sorry! i’m apple pie faced! i’ll see myself out.

No, no. If you start with an apples to oranges story, the New Yorkers and Angelenos will automatically think it concerns them. You’re doing this thread a favour.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Docere

Greater London (2021 Census)

Born outside UK 3,575,740

Europe 1,122,633
Asia 1,146,247
Africa 625,071
Americas 389,436
Oceania and ROW 126,704

Greater Paris (2022 census)

Born outside Metropolitan France: 3,245,894

Of which:
- born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth: 439,293
- born in the French overseas departments and territories: 211,701
- immigrants (people born in foreign countries without French citizenship at birth): 2,594,900

Among the immigrants and people born in the French overseas departments and territories (i.e. 2,594,900 + 211,701), the regions of birth were:
Europe: 602,880 (21.5%)
Turkey: 69,281 (2.5%)
Asia excluding Turkey: 400,145 (14.3%)
Mainland Africa: 1,319,121 (47.0%)
Islands in the Indian Ocean: 90,863 (3.2%)
Americas: 316,607 (11.3%)
Oceania: 7,702 (0.3%)

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Docere

London probably has better Lithuanian food than it does Mexican food.

A big immigrant community doesn't necessarily translate as large food offering from that community. For example in Paris the largest immigrant community is the Algerians, but there are almost no Algerian restaurants and delis around. I know only one (rather expensive) near the Louvre, and that's about it. It's just amazing how little food presence there is in relation to the size of this community.

On the other hand, you have lots of Japanese (or faux Japanese) restaurants in Paris, despite the fact the Japanese community is 33 times smaller than the Algerian community.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Docere

Unfortunately there's no internationally recognized "metro area" definition used by national statistical agencies.

Actually there is, it's the FUA (Functional Urban Area), a harmonized definition used by Eurostat, the OECD, the Brazilian statistical office, etc), and the OECD publishes immigrant figures for the FUAs of the OECD countries.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

A big immigrant community doesn't necessarily translate as large food offering from that community. For example in Paris the largest immigrant community is the Algerians, but there are almost no Algerian restaurants and delis around.

There are likely many Algerian restaurants, but they're marketed as North African or Maghreb or even Middle Eastern restaurants. Algerian food has a poor reputation, so you're unlikely to see such restaurants just like you basically never see Dutch restaurants (Dutch food might be the worst anywhere). Or maybe they pretend to be Moroccan (which has great food).

In the NYC area, you almost never see Puerto Rican restaurants. They were traditionally called Spanish or Spanish-Caribbean restaurants. Puerto Rican food isn't super interesting (mostly just fried stuff or meat + rice). Sometimes you see signs for cuchifritos or frituras, which indicate a specific type of street food, but even then, rarely a signifier the food is specifically Puerto Rican.