Which countries saw the largest increase in American expat arrivals between 2020 and 2025?
Executive summary
Available sources do not provide a straightforward, comprehensive list of which countries saw the largest increase in American expat arrivals between 2020 and 2025; most reporting in the dataset offers destination popularity or overall upticks in Americans moving abroad, not precise country-by-country changes over that five‑year span (not found in current reporting). Sources highlight large American communities in Mexico (just under ~800,000 reported by World Population Review and cited by Islands) and steady popularity of Canada, Spain, Portugal and a number of Latin American destinations, and they document a 2025 surge in U.S. citizens expatriating (about 1,200–1,285 in Q1 2025 per CS Global Partners reporting) that could push 2025 totals toward the high thousands if trends continue [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. Big picture: a 2025 surge, but not a country-by-country accounting
Multiple pieces in the search set describe a sharp increase in Americans leaving the U.S. in early 2025 — CS Global Partners and coverage of its analysis report roughly 1,200–1,285 U.S. citizens expatriated in Q1 2025, a ~102% jump from the prior quarter — but those sources focus on counts of people renouncing U.S. citizenship or leaving overall, not on which receiving countries gained the most arrivals between 2020 and 2025 [3] [4] [5]. World Population Review and related lists give totals of Americans resident abroad by country in 2025 (for example, large numbers in Mexico), but they do not provide clean five‑year delta figures in the materials provided here [1] [2].
2. Mexico: largest American expat population in 2025, likely a major gainer
World Population Review — cited repeatedly by media — is used as the basis for reporting that Mexico hosts the largest U.S. expat population (about “just under 800,000” in a July 2025 Islands story referencing World Population Review). Multiple country‑rank lists and expat‑survey coverage likewise single out Mexico as the most popular destination for Americans, and CNN and InterNations reporting point to surges in residency applications there between 2019–2022, implying continued growth into the mid‑2020s [2] [1] [6]. However, the dataset does not give an explicit 2020→2025 increase figure for Mexico, so we cannot quantify the change exactly from these sources (not found in current reporting).
3. Canada and nearby nations: steady large communities but unclear deltas
Several compilations and lists name Canada among the top destinations for American expats (geographic proximity, workforce ties). The provided sources note Canada as a commonly listed top destination in surveys and rankings, but they do not present a numeric increase between 2020 and 2025 for Canada specifically in the materials provided [7] [1]. Therefore, while Canada is widely cited as a major host of U.S. expatriates, the precise five‑year gain is not reported here (not found in current reporting).
4. Europe and Latin America: Spain, Portugal, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia — popular targets, not precise gains
Coverage from travel and expat outlets lists Spain, Portugal, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia and others as growing in appeal due to visas, lower costs, retirement friendliness and digital‑nomad programs; InterNations and media pieces rank Panama and Spain highly for expat satisfaction and note rising interest in European locales like Portugal [8] [9] [10]. These narratives imply increases in American arrivals in several countries, but the supplied material lacks authoritative country‑by‑country inflow statistics comparing 2020 to 2025, so we cannot definitively identify which of these had the largest increases [10] [9].
5. Data gaps and why they matter
The most concrete numeric claims in the dataset relate to overall renunciations/expatriations (CS Global Partners: ~1,285 in Q1 2025, ~102% quarterly jump) and broad counts of Americans living abroad by country in 2025 (World Population Review’s country rankings), but no source in this set publishes a validated list of the largest country‑level increases in American arrivals between 2020 and 2025. That combination — aggregate surge numbers plus separate country totals without explicit deltas — means analysts can infer likely winners (Mexico, Canada, popular Latin European and Latin American destinations) but cannot make a rigorous ranking from the provided material [3] [4] [1].
6. How to get a definitive answer (next steps for reporting or research)
To produce a ranked list of the countries with the largest increases of American expat arrivals 2020→2025, you need country‑level time series data from authoritative sources: national population registries, UN International Migrant Stock with yearly breakdowns, U.S. State Department/AARO country counts across years, or consistent country residency/visa issuance statistics for each year. The current search results point to likely top destinations (Mexico, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia) but do not include the required five‑year comparative data in the materials provided here (not found in current reporting; [1]; [2]; p2_s7).
Sources cited in this brief: World Population Review country ranking and destination lists (used for 2025 country totals) [1]; Islands citing World Population Review on Mexico’s 2025 total [2]; CS Global Partners reporting on a Q1 2025 surge and media coverage of that analysis [3] [4] [5]; travel and expat surveys noting Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Panama and others as top destinations [6] [10] [9].