One of the hardest numbers to pin down is how many Americans live abroad. We tackled that subject in our article Where Are Americans Living Abroad, which covered not only the estimated size of the American expat community, but also where Americans are living abroad and where they say they want to live.
Where Americans say they want to live was easy because we did our own research to find out. But the number of Americans living abroad is still proving elusive. The U.S. government does not formally track how many Americans leave the country temporarily or permanently, which means it has to rely on estimates.
I found a feature story, though, in the online publication Migration Information Source (you must have read it, right?) called “Counting the Uncountable: Overseas Americans” that sheds a little additional light on the subject. Based on extensive secondary data, the authors conclude that “This population’s size, characteristics and distribution remain an enigma.”
Their exhaustive research turned up a few items of interest, though:
- Americans are dispersed more broadly throughout the world – in at least 100 countries – than are emigrants from any other given country
- About two-thirds of Americans abroad live in 10 countries, compared to over 80 percent of most other countries, which suggests Americans are scattered more broadly throughout the world
- The U.S. Department of State’s most recent estimate in January 2013 of Americans living abroad is 6.8 million, up from 6.3 million in July 2012
The projection is based on estimates from embassies, consulates and other sources and does not include the just over 1 million U.S. government/military employees living abroad.
The key statistic here is a year-to-year increase of nearly 8 percent, which is impressive if it is even remotely reliable.