Immigrants create Wealth
An open research project by The Immigrant Times examining the creation of economic, social and cultural wealth by immigrants
Immigrants create economic, social and cultural wealth, whatever their occupation
August 2025: ‘Immigrants create Wealth’ is an open research project that allows everyone to suggest and contribute research into the contributions made by immigrants in their new home countries and communities. The research contributions can be anecdotal or scientific. They can be based on local observations or involve wide-ranging studies, but they must be factual. Please get in touch with us if you have any ideas or have come across research that might be of interest to our project.
Please contact the editor.
We wish to make research more transparent, accessible, and reproducible by sharing research outputs, methods, and data openly. It involves making research findings, data, and methods available online for free, encouraging collaboration, and fostering a more open and inclusive research culture.
Below, we publish research that indicates that cities with above-average per capita GDP are also home to an above-average percentage of immigrants. (There are a few exceptions.)
It might be argued that wealthy cities are more attractive to domestic and foreign immigrants than less well-off communities. But the data below shows that any impact of less productive newcomers on local per capita GDP rates is short-lived. Over time, newcomers create economic, social and cultural wealth.
Please get in touch if you wish to add to the research below or feel corrections are needed.
(The methodology and sources for our research are given at the end of the article)
Research shows that thriving cities tend to have immigrant populations exceeding the national average
USA
National GDP per capita: $86,000
Immigrants: 53.3 million; 15.8% of the country’s population
New York City
City GDP per capita: $116,000
Immigrants: 5.8 million; 29% of the city’s population
San Francisco
City GDP per capita: $325,000
Immigrants: 1.4 million; 31% of the city’s population
Canada
National GDP per capita: $54,300
Immigrants: 8.3 million; 23% of the country’s population
Toronto
City GDP per capita: $58,200
Immigrants: 1.53 million; 51% of the city’s population
Ireland
National GDP per capita: $107,000
Immigrants: 955,000; 19% of the country’s population (2022 data)
Dublin
City GDP per capita: $180,000
Immigrants 71,000; 12.0% of the city’s population
United Kingdom
National GDP per capita: $53,000
Immigrants: 10.4 million; 14.8% of the country’s population (June 2022 data)
London
City GDP per capita: $87,000
Immigrants: 3.4 million; 38% of the city’s population
Manchester
City GDP per capita $46,500 (2022 data)
Immigrants: 128,000; 25% of the city’s population (2021 data)
Netherlands
National GDP per capita: $68,200
Immigrants: 2.8 million; 15.8% (The figure includes first and second-generation immigrants)
Amsterdam
City GDP per capita: $65,300 (estimate)
Immigrants: 407,000; 37% of the city’s population (2023 data)
Rotterdam
City GDP per capita: $63,000
Immigrants: 294,000; 45% of the city population
Belgium
National GDP per capita: $56,000 (2023 data)
Immigrants: 1.57 million; 13.2% of the country’s population
Brussels (Capital Region)
City GDP per capita: $91,700
Immigrants: 465,000; 37% of the city’s population (2023 data)
France
National GDP per capita: $46,200
Immigrants: 7.1 million; 10.3% of the country’s population (2021 census)
Paris
City GDP per capita: $73,000
Immigrants: 437,000; 20% of the city’s population
Lyon
City GDP per capita: $47,400
Immigrants: 68,800; 13% of the city’s population
Marseille
City GDP per capita: $36,000
Immigrants: 125,000; 14.5% of the city’s population (2020 data)
Germany
GDP per capita: $55,800
Immigrants: 15.1 million; 18.1% of the country’s population (The figure includes some 1 million temporary immigrants from Ukraine but excludes some 500,000 asylum seekers)
Hamburg
City GDP per capita: $99,500
Immigrants: 391,000; 21% of the city’s population
Frankfurt
City GDP per capita: $102,000
Immigrants: 245,000; 32% of the city’s population
Munich
City GDP per capita: $102,000
Immigrants: 478,000; 30% of the city’s population
Switzerland
National GDP per capita: $104,000
Immigrants: 1.1 million; 12.2% of the country’s population (Some 40% of the Swiss population has an immigrant background)
Zurich
City GDP per capita: $130,400
Immigrants: 150,000; 37% of the city’s population (2021 data)
Italy
National GDP per capita: $40,000
Immigrants: 5.4 million foreign nationals, excluding undocumented immigrants; 8.9% of the country’s population
Milan
City GDP per capita: $58,500
Immigrants: 300,000; 20% of the city’s population
Rome
City GDP per capita: $46,000
Immigrants: 365,000; 12.5% of the city’s population
Spain
National GDP per capita: $35,300
Immigrants: 9.4 million; 19% of the national population
Madrid (metro area)
City GDP per capita: $45,500
Immigrants: 816,000; 24% of the city’s population
Barcelona
City GDP per capita: $39,100
Immigrants: 432,000; 25.4% of the city’s population
Poland
National GDP per capita: $25,000
Immigrants: 2.5 million (estimate); 6.8% of the country’s population
Warsaw (Greater)
City GDP per capita: $57,000
Immigrants: 570,000 (the estimate includes temporary immigrants from Ukraine); 10% of the metro city’s population
Singapore
GDP per capita: $90,700
Immigrants: 2.5 million; 42% of the city’s population
Japan
National GDP per capita: $32,500
Immigrants: 3.76 million; 3% of the country’s population
Tokyo (Prefecture)
City GDP per capita: $74,000
Immigrants: 650,000; 4.6% of the city’s population
Brazil
National GDP per capita: $10,300
Immigrants: 1.3 million; 0.6% of the country’s population
Sao Paulo
City GDP per capita: $13,000
Immigrants: 361,000; 3% of the city’s population
Methodology: The research was carried out in July and August 2025 by The Immigrant Times. Per capita GDP is a measure of the total economic output of a country or city divided by its population. It represents the average economic output per person. Most of the raw data was collected between 2022 and 2024. Please note that, in most cases, an ‘immigrant’ is defined as a foreign-born person. In a few instances, national statistical offices also include second-generation immigrants.
Sources: The World Bank, OECD, national statistical offices, Migration Policy Institute, International Organisation for Migration; Vera Institute of Justice; Metroverse of the Harvard Growth Lab; Council of Europe; Various United Nations organisations; EuroCities; Eurostat; N26
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Further reading: Immigration has made South Ameerica the most diverse region in the world | Japan debates immigration |
Please email us with any questions, comments or observations
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