List of diasporas

History provides us with many examples of notable diasporas.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Note: the list below is not definitive, and includes groups that have not been given significant historical attention. Whether the migration of some of the groups listed fulfills the conditions required to be considered a diaspora may be open for debate.

A

• Afghan people - fled their country throughout the 20th century and the long civil wars, especially to nearby Pakistan, India and Iran. Since 1980, over half a million Afghans migrated to Europe (many to Great Britain), while a quarter a million went to North America (the U.S. and Canada), and less than 50,000 settled in Australia.
• The African diaspora - Sub-Saharan Africans and their descendants.See Afro-Brazilian for blacks in Brazil, African Americans, African Canadians, Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-Europeans and Afro-Latin Americans. Africans from the Magreb are usually counted differently.
• Albanians - 3.5 million live in Albania, with estimated 8,5 million world total (Italy, Greece, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, the United States and Canada). The largest concentration of Albanians outside the country is in neighbouring Kosovo. Other Albanian enclaves are in coastal Croatia, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Another large area of ethnic Albanians, known as the Arbereshe lived in southern Italy, especially in regions of Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania and Sicily for over eight centuries. In the 19th and 20th centuries, repeated large waves of Albanian emigration took place as Albanians moved to Northern and Western Europe (France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the U.K.), the former Soviet Union, North America (the U.S. and Canada), Australia and across Asia (the former Ottoman Empire in the Middle East).
• Arab diaspora - around 30 million Arabs have left the Arab world escaping hotspots, and conflicts areas, those who have migrated from the Arab World, now reside in Western Europe, the Americas (e.g. Detroit has the largest Arab-American community), Australia and elsewhere. (See especially Lebanese and Syrians).
• Argentine diaspora - People from Argentina known as Argentines whom live overseas in communities across western Europe (esp. Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the U.K.), North America (the U.S., Canada and Mexico) and elsewhere (i.e. Australia), mainly are political refugees from the military junta in the late 1970s and 1980s, (see also Argentine Americans).
• Armenian diaspora - Armenians living in their ancient homeland, which had been controlled by the Ottoman Empire for centuries, fled persecution, massacres and genocide during several periods of forced emigration, from the 1880s to the 1920s. Many Armenians settled in the United States (a majority of whom live in the state of California), France, Iran, Lebanon, Russia and Syria.
• Assyrians - a pre-Arab Semitic Christian population of the Middle East (originally they lived in Syria, as well in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey). In the 20th century, millions of Assyrians left the Middle East due to ongoing ethnic, political and religious persecution. Assyrian communities flourish in the United States, Canada, throughout Europe, Brazil, Africa, India, China, Japan and Australia.

B

• Basque diaspora - Basques who left the Basque Country in northern Spain and southwest France, usually to the Americas (esp. the western U.S., Mexico, Argentina and Chile) for economic or political reasons. There are also Basque Catholic missionaries across the world, as well Basque fishermen in Canada (Newfoundland), Northern Europe, East Asia, Australia and Oceania.
• Bosnian diaspora - grew substantially during the Bosnian war. It mainly consists of Bosniaks but also out of Bosnian Croats, Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Jews, Bosnian Albanians and Bosnian Roma. Many Bosnians live in the USA, mostly in large cities like New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles, California; and many live in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Switzerland and many other places.
• British diaspora - During the last four hundred years millions of English, Scots, Irish, and Welsh have migrated all over the world, for a great variety of reasons, especially to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. That explains the use of the English language and the large number of British names in the places mentioned.
• Bulgarian diaspora - an estimated one million ethnic Bulgarians are dispersed around the world, the majority in Europe such as in neighboring nations of Romania, Greece, Serbia, Turkey and the Republic of Macedonia. About 200,000 in the U.S., with 50,000 others in Canada and 20,000 in Mexico. Other large Bulgarian diaspora communities are in France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the UK, and smaller numbers are found in Argentina and Australia.

C

• The Cape Verdean diaspora refers to historical emigration from Cape Verde. Today, more Cape Verdeans live abroad than in Cape Verde itself. Diaspora communities include those in the United States, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain and Canada.
• Chechens - fled Chechnya during the 1990s insurrection against Russia. The majority of displaced Chechens fled to Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Republic of Georgia, but tens of thousands of Chechen refugees migrated to Europe, North America and across the Middle East. Previous waves of migration took Chechens to Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia in 1820 or 1890.
• Cherokees - a Native American tribe indigenous to the Southeastern United States, whose official tribal organization is Cherokee Nation based in Oklahoma, United States, which has 800,000 members as of 2005. However, anthropological and genetic experts in Native American studies have argued that there could be over one million more Cherokee descendants scattered across North America (the largest number in California). The beginnings of the Cherokee diaspora was from their forced removal in the Trail of Tears. Later, thousands of "Americanized" Cherokee farmers were forced to settle across the Americas as the result of the Dawes Act. In the 20th century, many Cherokees served in the U.S. Army during World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. These soldiers left some descendants by intermarriage with "war brides" in Europe and east Asia. Some Cherokees and other American Indians might emigrated to Europe and elsewhere through the British and Spanish empires.
• Chilean diaspora - A small but widespread community, mostly of political refugees who fled the Augusto Pinochet regime after the 1973 coup. Overseas Chilean communities are in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden and the U.S., but smaller communities are found in Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Russia and the Netherlands. (see also Chilean Americans).
• Chinese diaspora - number over 50 million worldwide. The largest overseas Chinese communities are in Asia. Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar (in descending order of ethnic Chinese population size) have at least 1 million ethnic Chinese each. Two countries outside Asia, namely the United States (esp. States of California, Hawaii, New York and Washington State) and Canada (Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver) have populations over 1 million in size. Other sizable communities may be found in Japan, Cambodia, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, each with over 100,000 ethnic Chinese.
• Circassians - fled Circassia - Kabardey, Cherkes, Adigey Republics and Shapsug Area in 1864. Exiled 90% of Circassians are by Russian Colonialists to Ottoman Empire or imperial Turkey ... The Circassian Diaspora is over four million worldwide, with large Circassian communities in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Romania, Syria, Russia as well the former USSR, over 100,000 Circassians in North America (the United States and Canada), and over 10,000 Circassians in Australia.
• Colombian diaspora - over five million Colombians, either displaced by war, left for economic opportunity, and placed in exile to avoid political persecution. The Colombian diaspora lives across the Americas (i.e. Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, and South American nations, especially Venezuela), and across Europe (i.e. Spain, France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom). The largest overseas Colombian population is the U.S. where they are over 2 million Colombian Americans, one of the largest Latino nationalities in the country.
• Congolese diaspora found across the continent of Africa and smaller Congolese communities developed in Western Europe.
• Cornish people migrated from Cornwall to other parts of England and countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil. The diaspora was caused by a number of factors, but due mainly to economic reasons and the lack of jobs in the 18th and 19th centuries when many Cornish people, or “Cousin Jacks” as they were known, migrated to various parts of the world in search of a better life. (see also Cornish emigration).
• Crimean Tatar diaspora - formed after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by Russia, in 1783.
• Croatian diaspora - Largest number of Croatians living outside Europe are in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Peru, Brazil and Argentina.
• Cuban diaspora - the exodus of over one million Cubans (the largest community is in Miami, Florida, United States) following the Cuban Revolution of 1959. (See also Cuban Americans).

D

• Dutch diaspora - the Dutch originally came from the Low Countries and northern France. Millions of Dutch descendants live in the United States (Dutch American), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, India (Sri Lanka), Africa (Zaire when it was the Belgian Congo until 1960), the Caribbean (Aruba and Netherlands Antilles which is officially Dutch territory), and South America (Suriname formerly was Dutch until independence in 1975), but Dutch descendants are found in Brazil and Argentina. The four million white (European) Afrikaaners of South Africa are descendants of Dutch, French Huguenot and German settlers brought over to the colonial Dutch East India company in the 16th century (see South African diaspora).

E

• Ecuadorian diaspora - People from Ecuador who reside in countries across the Americas (i.e. the U.S., see Ecuadorian Americans, also in Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil), Europe (esp. Spain and Italy, with some in France and elsewhere), and smaller numbers in Japan and Australia.
• Estonians - Over 5 million known ethnic Estonians live/reside outside Estonia after the Nazi invasion of 1940 and the Soviet annexation of 1945, both led to massive deportations across the former USSR (many went to Siberia) and refugees went to the US, followed by Canada, Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK and smaller numbers to China, Japan, Australia and Mexico.

F

• Fiji Indian diaspora - people of Indian origin left Fiji following the racially inspired coups of 1987 and 2000 to settle primarily in Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada. Smaller numbers have settled in England and other Pacific islands.
• Filipino diaspora - left the Philippines for Japan, Hong Kong (China), Southeast Asia, Australia, Guam and Northern Marianas, the United States (esp. Hawaii and in states of California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska - see Filipino Americans), Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and the Middle East (the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar). Overseas workers have their own political party in the Philippine Congress.
• French diaspora - Over 100 million French-speaking and ethnic French people in the world, about 55 million in Metropolitan France in Europe, 3 million in Belgium known as the Walloons, 3 million in western cantons of Switzerland and 2 million others in adjacent areas of Luxembourg, the kingdoms of Andorra and Monaco, and parts of western Italy, southwest Germany and northern Spain. This includes the remnants of French 'colons' in formerly French territories of North Africa the independent nations of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia and in Southeast Asia (formerly French Indochina) now independent nations of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and millions of those of French ancestry in North America (i.e. a major contributor of settlement in the U.S. and 8 million French-Canadians in Canada), South America (ethnic descendant communities like in Argentina), Africa (the Afrikaaners of Dutch and French origins in South Africa) and Oceania (i.e. New Caledonia and French Polynesia).
  • French Canadian diaspora - includes hundreds of thousands of people who left Quebec for the United States (most went to New England states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont), as well as Ontario and Western Canada, between about 1840 and 1930. In addition, since the 1970s Florida and other portions of the Southeastern United States have had sizable French-Canadian communities, consisting chiefly of retired senior citizens.
  • The Acadian diaspora - the Great Expulsion (Grand Dérangement) occurred when the British expelled about 10,000 Acadians (over three-fourths of the Acadian population of Nova Scotia) between 1755 and 1764. The British split the Acadians between different colonies to impose assimilation.

G

• Galicians - left their country for mainly economic reasons to other areas of Spain, and to the Americas (esp. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United States and Venezuela) and later, Western Europe (Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) in the 1950s and 1960s. Galicians also went to Africa, Australia, New Zealand and east Asia: China, Japan and the Philippines which was a former Spanish colony from 1540 to 1898. Galician Diaspora. Photographic documentary long term project of Galician diaspora, Galegos na diáspora,(1989, Álvarez, Delmi) www.delmialvarez.com/diaspora. Thousand of Galicians emigrated around the world from the 19th century. The project is the only one documental work began from 1989 till today.
• German diaspora - an estimated 100 million ethnic Germans originally from the historic German-speaking homeland of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and includes parts of Belgium, Denmark, France (esp. the region of Alsace), Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. In World War II, the Soviets expelled over 10 million ethnic Germans from the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) and former German provinces which were annexed by Poland, Slovakia and the former USSR (Belarus). In the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, millions of Germans left German lands especially to the Americas (i.e. the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Panama and Venezuela). Large numbers also migrated to Australia, where they now form the fourth largest ethnic group, with nearly 750,000 people claiming German descent. Other smaller German communities in Africa or the Middle East (Egypt, Israel, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania), east Asia/Oceania (China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand), and across the former Soviet Union (i.e. Kazakhstan).
  • Mennonites - Christians rooted in the 16th and 17th century Anabaptist movement of the Protestant Reformation in northern Europe. Various groups of Mennonites migrated to the North America eastern Europe and Asia. There are Mennonite settlements in Central and South America and over a million Mennonite adherents worldwide.
• Gerashi diasporas - The people of Gerashi origin (of Iran) who have migrated to the Arab States of the southern Persian Gulf in search of necessities and basic human rights. It has continued since the early 20th century bombing of the city by Reza Shah and the federal forces.
• Greek diaspora - refers to any ethnic Greek populations living outside the borders of Greece and Cyprus as a result of modern or ancient migrations. There is a Department of Diaspora Affairs in the Greek government. Millions of Greeks live in North America (the United States and Canada), Africa, Australia, the Asian continent, across Europe and the Middle East. Historically Greek enclaves in Turkey and Egypt were nearly abandoned after World War I and Greek-Egyptian migration since 1960. In addition, many Greek Cypriots migrated to Britain in the twentieth century.

H

• Haitian diaspora - To escape the horrible environment in their country, most Haitians have fleed to the Bahamas, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, French Guiana, and the USA. There are also smaller numbers in Belgium, Canada, France, Spain, and Venezuela.
• Hungarian diaspora - lives in numerous communities across Europe, former USSR, North America and Australia. Historic Hungary extended into parts of Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. For over 300 years, either they migrated west for economic opportunities or as political refugees, such as the failed Hungarian revolution of 1956 against the Communist government, when over 200,000 Hungarians fled the country for asylum in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Brazil.
• Hongkonger diaspora - lives in communities in cities such as London, Toronto, Vancouver and Sydney. See Hongcouver and yacht people.

I

• Icelandic diaspora: at an estimated number of 150,000, half of which are in Canada. See Icelanders.
• Inuit people, their homeland spans across 4,000 miles of northern most reaches of North America along the Arctic Ocean. About 800,000 Inuits (a.k.a. "Eskimos") live in four countries: The U.S. (Alaska), Canada (Nunavut is a territorial government established in 1999), Greenland (the "Greenlandic" people, the majority are of Inuit and Danish-European ancestry), self-ruling territory of Denmark, and about 3,000 in the Chukchi Peninsula, Russia facing the Bering Strait.
• Indian Diaspora: See Non Resident Indian (NRI), Person of Indian Origin (PIO), Overseas Indian and Desi.
• Indochinese diaspora - includes the refugees from the numerous wars that took place in Southeast Asia, such as World War II and the Vietnam War.
  • The Vietnamese diaspora - fled communist rule in Vietnam following their victory in the Vietnam War (see South Vietnam) went to the United States (see Vietnamese Americans), the migration peaked in the 1980s and 1990s (esp. the largest Vietnamese-American community is in Orange County, California). The Vietnamese also went to Canada, France (and overseas territories), Germany (also the Vietnamese guest workers in the former Communist East Germany), Italy, the Middle East, Australia, and other Asian countries (most went to Hong Kong, when it was a British colony, before the handover to the People's Republic of China in 1997, and Macau, which was under Portuguese rule until the handover to the People's Republic of China in 1999).
  • The wave of Hmong tribes from Laos, Laotians, Cambodians and Thai refugees and economic immigrants (Vietnamese who arrived since 1990) arrived in North America (i.e. the US and Canada), Europe (esp. France), across Asia (most went to Thailand), Oceania (Australia) and South America (concentrated in French Guiana).
• Indonesian diaspora - refers to any ethnic in Indonesia living outside of their homeland, the majority of Indonesian expatriates live in the U.S., Japan, the U.A.E., Australia, and the Netherlands, esp. South Moluccans, a predominantly Christian ethnic group found asylum and religious freedom by the thousands in Holland since the 1950s.
  • Minangkabau diaspora - two of three Minangkabau people live in diaspora. Matrilineal system indirectly caused the diaspora in Minangkabau community. Nowadays, over a million Minangkabau people living outside of Indonesia, mainly in Malaysia and Singapore, but they recently joined the Indonesian emigration to Australia, China, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines.
  • Javanese diaspora - occurred in the Dutch colonial era. Vast numbers of Javanese send to other of Dutch colony as coulies. Most of them send to Suriname, New Caledonia, and East Sumatra, but others live in Europe, North America, the Middle East, South Africa and Australia.
  • Indo diaspora - During and after the Indonesian National Revolution, which followed the World War II, (1945-1965) around 300.000 people, pre-dominantly Indos, left Indonesia to go to the Netherlands. This migration was called repatriation. The majority of this group had never set foot in the Netherlands before.
• Iraqi diaspora - Refugees from Iraq have increased in number since the US-led invasion into Iraq in March 2003. As of November 4, 2006, the UNHCR estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month. There are over 200,000 Iraqi refugees said to resided in Egypt and 100,000 more in the Persian Gulf states.
• Irish diaspora - consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United States (see Irish Americans), the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa, and nations of the Caribbean and continental Europe, where small but vibrant Irish communities continue to exist. The diaspora contains over 80 million people and it is the result of mass migration from Ireland, due to past famines and political oppression. The term first came widely into use in Ireland in the 1990s when the then-President of Ireland, Mary Robinson began using it to describe all those of Irish descent. Notable people of the global Irish diaspora are United States presidents John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Chilean liberator Bernardo O'Higgins.
• Italian diaspora - occurred between 1870 and 1920 due to the economic crises on the peninsula, reaching the number of 10 million emigrants. Vast numbers of Italians (Sicilians, people from Veneto and other depressed areas) emigrated to Brazil, Argentina the United States (see Italian Americans), Canada, Australia, and elsewhere in the Americas (i.e. Chile, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela), Europe (i.e. the UK, Malta, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden), smaller numbers of Italians went to South Africa and Israel (Italian Jews), and small Italian expatriate communities once thrived until the mid 20th century in Africa and the Middle East (Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey). See also Sicily and Sicilian. The real diaspora of the 20th century came after the end of World War II, with 350,000 Italians leaving their homeland on the eastern front after the capture of Istria and Dalmatia by the Yugoslavs. Most of them were relocated in Italy itself; a lower percentage flew overseas (the racer Mario Andretti for example).

J

• Jaffnese/Ceylonese Diaspora - refers to the diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamils, especially those post-1983 due to the civil conflict in Sri Lanka. This has created huge Tamil communities in countries such as Canada, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany and other European countries. In many ways, the Jaffnese Diaspora is compared to the Jewish Diaspora, both historically, socially and economically. It is a subset of the greater Tamil Diaspora.
• Jamaican diaspora - An estimated 3 million Jamaicans live outside the island country of Jamaica, an English-speaking majority African descendant country in the Caribbean. The main destinations for Jamaican immigration in the 20th century are the U.S., Great Britain and Canada. Jamaicans living aboard, such as Bob Marley introduced the music form of reggae to the international music market in the 1970's.
• Japanese diaspora - Brazil (see Japanese Brazilian), the United States (see Japanese Americans), Canada (See Japanese Canadian) and the Philippines (see Japanese Filipinos), as well sizable communities in Peru (see Japanese Peruvian), Argentina (see Asian Argentine), Chile and Ecuador, and smaller numbers of Japanese in Australia, New Zealand, Cuba and Mexico are the countries with the highest numbers of Japanese people outside Japan. The largest community of ethnic Japanese is in Hawaii where they make up a quarter of the state's population. However, there are smaller Japanese communities around the world that developed in the late 20th century such as throughout western Europe, eastern Russia and South Africa. The Japanese population used to have nicknames to indicate generational levels: "Issei"-foreign born parents, next is "Nisei"-1st generation born outside Japan or children, and "Sansei"-2nd generation born outside Japan or grandchildren.
  • Okinawans - An Asian people closely related to the Japanese in terms of culture and language, from the island of Okinawa, politically part of Japan since 1878. After WWII, the U.S. briefly ruled Okinawa from 1945 to its' return to Japanese rule in 1972. Since then, tens of thousands of Okinawans settled in the U.S. and in the 1960s, massive settlement programs of Okinawan farmers into Latin America, the majority in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru.
• Jewish diaspora - in its historical use, refers to the period between the Roman invasion and subsequent occupation of Land of Israel beginning AD 70, to the establishment of Israel in 1948. In modern use, the 'Diaspora' refers to Jews living outside of the Jewish state of Israel today. Not all Jews, though, regard themselves as part of a diaspora community.
  • Jewish groups and histories greatly vary from one another in each country, notably large communities represented in the global Jewish diaspora: Polish Jews, Jews in France, German Jews, Russian Jews, Jews in Italy, Jews in the United Kingdom, Jews in the Netherlands, Jews in Hungary, Jews in Romania, Greek Jews, Oriental Jews(from the Middle East), Moroccan Jews, Egyptian Jews, Ethiopian Jews (the Falasha), Iranian Jews, Indian Jews, a small Chinese Jewish group, Jewish Americans the world's largest in this current time, Jewish Canadians, Jews in Latin America, South African Jews and Jewish Australians.
  • Sephardic Diaspora - in 1492 Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain expelled all persons who were not members of the Roman church specifically Jews and Christians of Jewish origin. The Sephardi resettled across Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, but others went to Germany and the Netherlands, and some went to Britain, North and South America, and other colonies of the British and Spanish empires by the late 16th century.
  • Jewish return to the Land of Israel began massively since the end of the Nineteenth century. By 1947, there were around 600,000 Jews in Palestine. In 1948, the State of Israel was established.

K

• Korean diaspora - a people from the Korean peninsula located between China and Japan. The first wave of Korean diaspora was during the Japanese colonial occupation (1910-1945), the peace treaty division of the Korean peninsula into two republics, the Korean War (1950-53) produced a wave of millions of war refugees who fled to the United States, Canada, China, Japan, the Philippines, South Vietnam until 1975, and the USSR, now Russia. Today, Korea remains a politically divided geographic unit. South Korea was under military rule 1953-1987, now a civilian democracy, but economic problems and a sense for adventure made over 500,000 South Koreans emigrate to the United States and Canada, and 100,000 more to Europe, Australia and South America (i.e. Brazil and Argentina). North Korea remains under an isolationist military state under Communism since 1948, while millions of political refugees fled to nearby China for freedom in the late 20th century.
• Kurdish diaspora - Kurdish diaspora is the Kurdish populations found in regions outside their ancestral homeland Kurdistan.

L

• Lebanese diaspora - An estimated 8 million Lebanese live worldwide.
• Lithuanian diaspora - the majority of post-WWII Lithuanians live in North America (Canada and the United States) and across Europe (France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, Netherlands and England), but are scattered across Russia and the former USSR, and smaller numbers in Mexico and Brazil. The Lithuanians and their ethnological kin, the Latvians may be the oldest Indo-European speaking peoples known and may resided in the Baltic states for 5,000 years.
• Latvian diaspora - the majority of Latvians whom left Latvia in WWII reside in North America (the US and Canada), across Europe mainly in Eastern countries and the former USSR with just as many in western and Scandinavian nations, and the rest in former Latvian lands in the Baltic states (Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Belarus). The most Russified of the three Baltic states, Latvia struggles with the issue of national identity after one million ethnic Russians settled there since 1940.

M

• Macedonian diaspora - formed from Macedonian refugees and economic migrants from Macedonia, to the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Italy, Greece, and many other states. There are approximately 2,500,000 Macedonians worldwide, with more than a third living outside the Republic of Macedonia.
• Maghrebi diaspora - consists of people from the North African countries, notably Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The largest Maghrebi community outside of North Africa is in France, where it is estimated that North Africans make up the majority of the country's Muslim population. [1]
• Maltese diaspora: occurred after the World War II and well into the 1960s and 70s due to the political climate at the time. Many Maltese left the island for the United Kingdom, Australia and America where sizable communities exist to this day. While not all left Malta with the intention of never returning, those that did not continued to think of Malta as their mother country. To this day, successive generations of Maltese-Australians and Maltese-Americans maintain a link with their ancestral home.
• Mexican Americans (Mexican diaspora)- over 20 million people of Mexican ancestry live in the United States, ranging from recent immigrants since the 1970s to long-established Americans of Spanish or Mexican descent. The majority of Mexican Americans live especially in the American Southwest, which borders with Mexico, an area that belonged to Mexico from 1821-1848. They were fundamental to development in the states of California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico in the 20th century. Los Angeles is said the second largest Mexican city, while the populace of San Antonio, Texas is over half of Mexican descent. Also known by other ethnic self-titles, like Chicanos, La Raza, Tejanos, and Californios, however are officially called Hispanics and Latinos in terms of ethnic/cultural origins, but Mexican Americans had a large mestizo or mixed European/Native American heritage.
• Moldovan diaspora - A diaspora indicating most of the Moldovans who have moved out of Moldova. Most found their homes in the Soviet Union and the Baltics. There is also a diaspora in Western European countries such as Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the Netherlands.
• Moravian Church - has a nickname "the Moravian Diaspora" named from a religious, not ethnic' identity, having been founded in the province of Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. During the 16th and 17th centuries, religious persecution drove the majority of church members to other countries, and by the late 18th and 19th centuries, the church had managed to grow, thrive and survive. There are hundreds of thousands of Moravian church members in small communities in Europe (the Netherlands), the Americas (the United States), Africa (South Africa), east Asia (South Korea), the Indian subcontinent (India), and Oceania (Australia). However, the vast majority of these would consider themselves natives of the country where they live - the nickname (presumably) being of only historic interest.
• Mormons, a Christian religious group whose official name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, as well smaller other churches based on Mormonism. Just under 50 percent of all Mormons live in the United States, while about three-fourths of the population of Utah are Mormon and form large minorities in 8 other Western U.S. states. Mormonism began as a small following of Christians who followed the teachings of Joseph Smith, founder of the early Mormon church in the early 19th century. The following were often forced to migrate and lived in the states of New York, Ohio, Illinois and Missouri by 1840. The Mormons were expelled by mob violence (Joseph Smith was killed) and persecution by neighbors in the 1840s and their new leader Brigham Young took the Mormons throughout the Great Plains and Rockies to settle the Salt Lake Valley in the western US in 1847. Mormons play a fundamental role in the development of Utah and most other Western states, with Utah becoming a state in 1896. Today, an estimated 13 million Mormons are found around the world, after missionary activity and conversion programs extended the L.D.S. and other Mormon-based churches worldwide, the largest concentrations of Mormons other than the U.S. are Mexico, Canada, South America, the South Pacific (esp. in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga), Scandinavia, Britain and East Asia, but the fastest growth in Mormonism in the late 20th century was in Africa, India and Eastern Europe.

N

• New Caledonia Kanaks - a Melanesian people native to the overseas French territory brought to Australia and New Zealand, and across Polynesia (The French territory of Tahiti) as agricultural workers in newly-founded plantations during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most Kanak laborers in Australia were deported back to New Caledonia in the 1910s due to racial fears of Kanaks live among the country's white European-descent majority. Today, an estimated 30,000 Australian descendants of Kanaks live in the state of Queensland, where the main concentration of Australian plantation agriculture took place.

P

• Palestinians - where forced out of Palestine during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War (see Palestinian diaspora, Palestinian exodus, Palestinian refugees and Israeli-occupied territories).
• Pakistani Diaspora - People who are originally from Pakistan and have settled abroad. Are mainly economic migrants and settled mainly in the Middle East and Britain. The total population is approximately 3 million.
• Persian Diaspora - A.k.a. Iranians are a major community in Los Angeles, in the U.S., the major number of Persians in Los Angeles are located in Westwood, aka Little Persia, even the mayor of Beverly Hills is Persian (see Iranian Americans). Other large Iranian communities exist throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East, east Asia and Australia, make up a total of 10 million belonged to the Persian/Iranian diaspora, the majority are political refugees who fled the overthrow of the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi regime in 1978 and Islamic Revolution of 1979.
• Peruvian diaspora - People who originally came from Peru. The largest Peruvian communities are in the United States (see Peruvian Americans), Canada, Europe (i.e. Spain and France), Japan and Australia.
• Filipino diaspora - Spelled either Pilipino or Filipino. There are millions of people aboard around the world that are originally from the Philippines. The largest concentration of Filipinos of multiple ethnicities from the archipalego country is in the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain and Spain, but widely scattered across East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America (esp. Mexico) and Europe (such as Italy and northern countries).
• "Polonia" - the diaspora of the Poles started with the emigrations after the partitions of Poland, January Uprising and the November Uprising, enlarged by the Nazi policies, and later by the establishment of the Curzon line. Historic Poland extended into nearby countries: Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. For over 600 years, large waves of Polish Émigrés, refugees and guest workers moved across Europe, established themselves in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. 19th and 20th century Polish immigration extended into the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Israel and Australia, as well across the former USSR. See also Polish Americans for the 9 million of Polish descent in the USA.
• The Portuguese diaspora - main countries are in Europe: Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Andorra and the UK. Former Portuguese African and Asian colonies (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, India, Macau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste). Portuguese settled the country of Brazil in Latin America, but Portuguese colonies and communities in the western hemisphere: Argentina, Canada, the Caribbean islands, Chile, Guyana, Hawaii, Mexico, Panama, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela are well noted. See also Portuguese Americans for the diaspora in the United States.
• Puerto Rican diaspora - a mass migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States mainland began during the first half of the twentieth century and has become a subject often studied in colleges, because of Puerto Ricans who achieved success in the United States. The largest Puerto Rican communities in mainland U.S. are in New York City, New Jersey and Florida, but other Puerto Ricans live in all 50 states including Hawaii, and also a smaller community each in Canada and Spain.
• The Punjabi diaspora - main regions are: EU (chiefly UK), Canada, USA, Malaysia and Australia, which took place in the 20th century.

Q

• Quebecois diaspora, see French-Canadian diaspora. The French name for French-speaking Canadians residing in the province of Quebec.

R

• Rhodesian diaspora. Southern Rhodesia had the distinction amongst Britain's African colonies of being a self-governing Crown Colony. As a result most Southern Rhodesians did not regard Great Britain as home but instead regarded Southern Rhodesia as home, though they did recognise cultural ties to Great Britain. During and following the Bush War (1966–1979, during which period the former Southern Rhodesia was known as Rhodesia) more than half of Rhodesia's population of European descent emigrated mainly to Australia, New Zealand and Canada. For many South Africa was the first destination, where some have settled, but most of these migrants where transient and later reached further destinations. Others recognising their cultural ties to Great Britain emigrated there. This trend continued after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe-Rhodesia in June, 1979 and increased when Zimbabwe-Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in March, 1980 (following a brief 85 day period during which the land's name formally reverted to "Southern Rhodesia" for reasons of political expediency); it is estimated that the population of European descent decreased from a peak 275,000 in 1970, to 120,000 in 1999. British citizens resident in the region joined in this migration and did not in all cases return to Great Britain, or in some cases did so only temporarily before moving on. Northern Rhodesians of European descent also emigrated to these same destinations, though their migration began earlier when Northern Rhodesia became Zambia in 1964 and was not the result of war but economic pressure. People of European descent also emigrated from Nyasaland after 1964 and followed the same routes as Northern Rhodesians, for the same reason. See: Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
• The Russian diaspora - The earliest significant wave of ethnic Russian emigration took place in the wake of the Old Believer schism in the 17th century. A sizable "wave" of ethnic Russians emigrated during a short time period in the wake of the October Revolution and Russian Civil War, known collectively as the White emigres. A smaller group of Russians (often referred to by Russians as the second emigration or second wave) had also left during World War II, many were refugees or eastern workers. During the Soviet period, ethnic Russians migrated throughout the area of former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union found themselves living outside Russia.
  • White Russian diaspora - named for the Russians and Belarusians who left Russia (the USSR 1918-91) in the wake of the 1917 October Revolution and Russian Civil War, seeking to preserve pre-Soviet Russian culture, the Orthodox Christian faith, and includes exiled former Communist party members, such as Leon Trotsky found exile in Mexico but was assassinated in 1940. The millions of Russian émigré and refugees found live in North America (the U.S. and Canada), Latin America , even more went to Europe (The UK, Austria, Belgium, former Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Scandinavia, Switzerland and former Yugoslavia), some to east Asia (China and Japan), south Asia (India and Iran) and the Middle East (Egypt and Turkey).
• Romani Diaspora - originating in the Punjab region of India, the Roma people began a mass migration to Europe ca. 1000 A.D.
• Romanians - who emigrated for the first time in larger figures between 1910 and 1925, and left in mass after the fall of communist regime in Romania in 1989, and comprise the Romanian diaspora, are found today in large numbers in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Russia, Turkey, the Netherlands, the U.K., China, Japan, Australia, the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Today there are over 12 mil. people of Romanian descent outside the country.

S

• Scottish diaspora - includes the Auld Alliance and the Scottish Wars of Independence which led countless Scots to emigrate to mainland Europe to escape persecution and hardship. The Highland clearances which depopulated large parts of the Scottish Highlands and had lasting effects on Scottish Gaelic culture; the Lowland Clearances which resulted in significant migration of Lowland Scots to Canada and the United States after 1776; the Ulster-Scots, descended primarily from Lowland Scots who settled Ulster during the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century and subsequently fled to the Americas in mass numbers throughout the 18th century due to religious and cultural persecution as well as other socio-economic factors. Other Scots and Ulster Scots went to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and a smaller but important community in Argentina. (See also British diaspora, above).
• Serbian diaspora - from Serbia, former Yugoslavia. Over 12 million of Serbian descent live around the world, historically based in Serbia, nearby Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Albania, Republic of Macedonia and Romania. The largest overseas Serbian communities are in the U.S.A (See Serbian American) and Germany, as well as Austria, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Brazil and South Africa.
• Somali diaspora - includes ethnic Somalis who live in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Yemen, Kenya, as well other parts of Africa. It also includes about 2.5 million people of Somali origin who live in the Middle East, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and North America either as expatriate nationals or as refugees from the civil war. The Somali diaspora altogether numbers between seven and nine million.
• South African diaspora - mainly consists of South African emigrants of European descent, especially those whose mother tongue (first language) is Afrikaans. South Africans of European descent whose mother tongue (first language) is English have largely emigrated to Great Britain for the same reasons. There is also a growing middle class in South Africa of African descent, many of whom are starting to emigrate for better prospects, furthering the demographic weight of all South Africans abroad. South Africans have largely settled in Great Britain, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany, Argentina and Brazil.
• South Asian diaspora - includes millions of people from India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, whose descendants live in Suriname, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Mauritius, Fiji, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Tanzania, Uganda, and other countries who left British India in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and millions more who have moved to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates in recent decades (see Desi, British Asian, South Asian American, Indo-Canadian).
  • Indian diaspora - estimated at over 30 million, refers to people originating from India living in other parts of the world.
  • Tamil diaspora - denotes people of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan Tamil origin who have settled in many parts of rest of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Reunion, South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, French Caribbean islands, Europe, Australia and North America (US and Canada).
  • Chitpavan Diaspora - Hindu converts of mixed Indian and East European (primarily Jewish) descent who migrated to India centuries ago.
  • The Roma (English terms: Gypsy, Gypsies) - a traditionally 'dispersed' people in Europe, with origins in South Asia (or perhaps, northern India) for 800-some years, are even more 'dispersed' today, following the Holocaust of Nazi Germany. (See Some names for the Roma) Over 10 million Roma live across Europe, the majority in Eastern countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Albania, Greece, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia), and estimates of 250,000 Roma are known to live in North America (the US and Canada).
• Spanish diaspora - linked to the political and economic emigrants who left Spain during the Francoist dictatorship (1930's but his death in 1975 brought democratic reform back to Spain). Notable communities were established in Argentina, Cuba, France, Italy, Mexico, Russia, the United Kingdom and across Latin America.
• Swedish diaspora. Large numbers of Swedes (and Swedish speaking Finns from Finland also under Russian rule) migrated to the USA in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is estimated that about eight million Americans have some Swedish ancestry. Swedish Americans constitute 10% of the population of Minnesota and other large numbers settled in Wisconsin, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. Large Swedish migration took place in Canada in the same time period along with other ethnic Scandinavians from Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Smaller waves of Swedish expatriates live across Europe, east Asia, Australia and Latin America, usually made up of retirees and businessmen in the late 20th century.
• Swiss diaspora, some 9% of Swiss citizens live across the globe (mostly in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil and nearby nations of France, Germany, Italy and Austria).
• Syrian diaspora - The largest Arab nationality diaspora in the world.

T

• Tibetan diaspora - began in 1959 when the People's Republic of China invaded Tibet. Most Tibetan refugees live in the United States, India (home to the exiled Dalai Lama, still the official leader of a nation no longer in existence), and Europe (over 30,000 went to Switzerland).
• Tuaregs, a group of Berbers in Western Sahara after the end of Spanish rule (1975) and Saharauis, whom fled the Moroccan invasion and occupation of the disputed territory known as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
• Turkish diaspora - refers to the Turkish people living outside of Turkey (most notably in Germany).

U

• Ukrainian diaspora, represented by Ukrainians who left their homeland in several waves of emigration, settling mainly in the Americas (United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina), but also Australia, east Asia (China) and across Europe. Also includes the tens and millions of Ukrainians who migrated from Ukraine to other parts of the former Soviet Union (mainly Russian Federation) during Soviet time.
  • Ruthenians and Carpathians, self-titles for Slavic peoples from the small region of Ruthenia, encompasses easternmost Slovakia, southeast parts of Poland, northern edges of Hungary and westernmost Ukraine, had preserved a unique ethnocultural identity, but lacked an independent country of their own for almost a millennia. In the late 19th century and again between World Wars I and II, over a million Ruthenians fled their homeland and settled across Western Europe (France, Germany and Austria), North America (the U.S. and Canada) and the USSR (Russia), but lesser numbers settled in East Asia (China), the Middle East (Turkey), South America (Brazil) and Australia in the late 20th century.

V

• The Venezuelan diaspora - People from Venezuela who live outside of their territory: Mainly in the United States, Mexico, Spain and Italy most of them escaping from the military dictatorship of the 1950s and the political repressions in the 1960s. Nowadays, there's a growing number of Venezuelans in Canada almost all of them working for the Oil industry after the 2002 strike. See also Venezuelan American

W

• Welsh diaspora - The Welsh (or their self-name Cymru) are a Celtic people from Wales one of the four countries of the United Kingdom or Great Britain whom manage to preserve more of their Celtic heritage after a millennia of English and then British rule. An estimated 5 million of Welsh ancestry live globally in areas formerly part of the British Empire (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and lesser numbers in Latin America) and about 2 million Americans are of Welsh descent. In the 19th century, over 500,000 Welsh miners migrated out of Wales throughout the British Empire, western Europe, the Americas (the U.S. such as Jackson County, Ohio was nicknamed Little Wales) and South Africa for mining jobs, but others came as shepherds, factory workers and fishermen. The Welsh fought hard to preserve their culture, such as the revived Welsh language and their sense of identity in face of forced assimilation to the Anglo-British fabric. In the late 19th century, a small but solid Welsh settlement in Argentina (migration) took place to created a Welsh community (many there are bilingual in Spanish and Welsh) that survived to this day in the Argentinan provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz.
• Western Sahara the people on the exile of Mali, France, Spain, and Italy and on Argelia (mainly Tinduf) and also Mauritania, and Niger. And on the Free Zone of the Saharaui Republic.

Z

• Zoroastrian diaspora - two waves; the first took place in the seventh century when the Arabs conquered Persia and those who fled to India became known as the Parsees. In addition, after the Islamic revolution of 1979, several thousand of the remaining Zoroastrians in Iran fled to the United States and the European Union, the largest being in Great Britain.

Various

• Various ethnic minorities from areas under Russian and Soviet control following the Russian Revolution, continuing through the mass forced-resettlements under Stalin.
• Various groups fled in large numbers from areas under Axis control during World War II, or after the border changes following the war, and formed their own diasporas.