China leads US international scholars with more than 23,000 in 2023/24, nearly 21% of global total

key takeaways:

  • China continued to lead globally with the highest number of international scholars in the US, with almost 21% of the international scholars as of 2023/2024.
  • China has been the lead country with the highest number of scholars in the US globally in the last 24 years.
  • India is next after China, with 17,735 scholars in US who hailed from India making up 15.8% of the population.
  • Only 1% of the scholars in the US are from Nigeria

As of the 2023/2024 academic session, a total of 112,552 scholars who didn't hail from the US were recorded to be in the country. Chinese scholars have dominated the pool of international scholars in the US for over two decades now and in 2023/24, 23,458 of the international scholars in the US were Chinese, making up 20.8% of the global total. India followed China, with 17,735 Indian scholars recorded, making up 15.8% of the global total.

Only 931 of these international scholars hailed from Nigeria which is approximately 1% of the global total.

Note: International scholars in this context are defined as scholars that are non-immigrant engaged in temporary academic activities.

Source:

Open doors data

Period:

2023/2024
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