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.

A total of 4,679 international scholars in the United States of America in the 2023/2024 academic session hailed from Africa. Among these brilliant minds, Egypt remained the lead African country with the highest number of international scholars in US, with 942 recorded. Close behind were Nigeria, with 931, and Ghana with 446 international scholars. Cumulatively, these three countries made up almost 50% of the total number of international scholars from the African continent.

Africa produced 4.2% of the total number of international scholars in the US as of the 2023/2024 academic session, a figure that marked a steady rise from previous years.

As the 2023/2024 session ended, the presence of African scholars in the US could not be overlooked. Egypt and Nigeria led the way, but scholars from over 50 African countries also played their part. The data reflected a growing trend, but the real story lay in the individuals behind the numbers. These scholars were not just guests; they were builders of a shared global academic future.

Source:

IIE Open Doors

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Period:

2023/24

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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.

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%.

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.

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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

Africa saw its highest net migration gain of 328K people in 1985, followed by net migration losses except in 2020

Africa’s largest net migration gain was in 1985, with +328K people.
The continent faced its steepest loss in 2010, with -998K.
2020 was a standout year in recent decades with +248K net gain.
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Despite a partial recovery in 2025 to -378K, losses still outweigh gains.

Immigrants make up nearly 1 in 5 people in Gabon, leading African countries with highest migrant populations

Gabon leads with 18.7% of its population being immigrants, the highest in Africa.
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Djibouti (12.1%) and Libya (12.0%) round out the top four with migrant shares over 10%.
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