The World's Best Places to Be Immigrants

Foreign Policy Magazine has a list of the best places in the world to be an immigrant.  Their list is:

• Ireland, where 14% of population are immigrants (meaning foreign born)
• Spain, where 11% of the population are immigrants
• Canada, where 19% of the the population are immigrants
• Israel, where 40% of the population are immigrants
• New Zealand, where 16% of the population are immigrants

The U.S. is not on the list, but about 12% of the U.S. population is foreign born.

A primary reason these countries are attractive to immigrants is economic opportunity and/or the need for for labor.  Canada's finance minister, for example, says that "population and labor shortages are Canada’s most pressing economic challenges."  And New Zealand uses a point system to encourage immigrants with in-demand job skills. 

Ireland is quite interesting given its history as a source of immigrants for other countries.  The "celtic tiger" economy of the last two decades has made Ireland very attractive to immigrants.

Our most recent forecast report has a section on the role immigrant entrepreneurs play in increasing cross border trade.  Not surprisingly, all the coutries listed in this article are strong in cross border trade.