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

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://intelpoint.co/insights/china-leads-us-international-scholars-with-more-than-23000-in-2023-24-nearly-21-of-global-total/" title="China leads US international scholars with more than 23,000 in 2023/24, nearly 21% of global total"><img src="https://intelpoint.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/international-scholars-in-the-us-in-20232024-academic-session-68a6f55ddaaed.webp" style="width: 80%; height: auto; max-width:960px;-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; margin: 0 auto; display: block;" alt="Chart: China leads US international scholars with more than 23,000 in 2023/24, nearly 21% of global total"/></a><br><span>Find more insights at <a href="https://intelpoint.co/insights?utm_source=Insight%20Embed&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=China+leads+US+international+scholars+with+more+than+23%2C000+in+2023%2F24%2C+nearly+21%25+of+global+total" target="_blank" style="color: #4f9acc; text-decoration: none;">Intelpoint</a>.</span></div>Copied to clipboard!

Period:

2023/2024

HTML code to embed chart

Want a bespoke report?

Reach out

Related Insights

Egypt has been the leading source of African scholars in the US in the last 24 years, with 942 recorded in the 2023/24 academic session

Egypt has been the lead source of African scholars in the US in the last 24 years.
Of the African scholars in the US as of the 2023/24 academic session, 20% were Egyptians.
The country remains a pivotal actor in building transcontinental academic bridges and contributing to global knowledge exchange.
Egypt’s visibility in the US scholarly ecosystem reinforces its role as a regional academic hub.

At 38 years, Mauritius has the oldest median age among African countries

Mauritius, with a median age of 38 years, has the oldest population in Africa.
The Central African Republic has the youngest population, with a median age of 14 years.
Nigeria’s median age of 18 years reflects the dominance of youth in its population.
Older populations tend to signal lower fertility rates.
Younger populations highlight higher fertility rates and greater demand for education and jobs.

Ghana accounted for 446 scholars in the US in 2023/24, representing 9.5% of all African scholars there

446 Ghanaian scholars are in the US as of the 2023/24 academic session, making up 9.5% of the total number of African scholars in the US.
In the 2000/01 academic session, Ghana was the 7th leading source of African scholars with only 75 Ghanaian scholars in the US.
Nearly 1 in African scholars in the US is a Ghanaian.
Ghana scholarly population in the US have grown by 497%.

Over the last 76 years, Africa's population has increased from being less than half (228M) that of Europe to doubling Europe (1.6B)

Africa’s population grew by 580.4%, from 228M in 1950 to 1.6B in 2025, making it the fastest-growing continent.
Asia remains the most populated continent, reaching 4.8B people in 2025, up from 1.4B in 1950.
Europe’s growth has been the slowest, at just 35.6%, rising from 549M to 744M.
Latin America & the Caribbean grew by 298%, from 168M to 668M.
North America more than doubled its population, growing by 130.7% from 168M to 388M.
Oceania saw a 270% increase, though it remains the least populated continent at 47M people.
Africa’s population is now more than double Europe’s, a major demographic shift compared to 1950.

Egypt and Nigeria were Africa’s leading sources of international scholars in the US in 2023/24

Egypt remained the lead African country with the highest number of international scholars in the US, with 942 recorded in the 2023/2024 academic session.
As of the 2023/2024 academic session, 4,679 international scholars in the United States of America are from Africa.
A total of 931 international scholars in the US as of the same session are from Nigeria.
Africa produced 4.2% of the international scholars in the US for the session under review.

Nigerian scholars in the US nearly quadruple in two decades, rising from 176 in 2000/01 to 931 in 2023/24

Nigeria has been the second leading source of African scholars in the US since 2008/09 to 2023/24, after overtaking South Africa.
By the 2023/24 academic session, the number of Nigerian scholars in the US reached 931.
Given past trends, it’s not unrealistic to predict that Nigeria could surpass Egypt in the near future, just as it did South Africa.
Approximately 20% of the African scholars in the US are Nigerians.