Cities with the highest foreign-population share

Dubai, United Arab Emirates has the highest foreign-resident share of the 30 cities compared: 92.01 % (Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment (DSC), 2023-12-31).

JSON Markdown

Published cities ranked by the share of foreign residents using one percentage metric.

Items compared: 30
Countries represented: 12
Last checked: 2026-09-26

Source-backed answers

Compare each answer with its unit and checked date; the complete source ledger is below.

Original rank	City or place	Published value		Source and scope
1	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	92.01 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31
2	Sharjah, United Arab Emirates	82.58 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2005-12-31
3	Ajman, United Arab Emirates	81.05 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2005-12-31
4	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	70.1 %	2026-07-18	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025
5	San Pawl il-Baħar, Malta	62.8 %	2026-07-18	Source Scope: city · Period: 2024-12-31
6	Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg	56.2 %	2026-07-18	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025
7	Sliema, Malta	56.15 %	2026-07-18	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
8	Differdange, Luxembourg	52.6 %	2026-07-18	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025
9	Genève, Switzerland	50.19 %	2026-09-17	Source Scope: city · Period: 2024-12-31
10	Pafos, Cyprus	47.89 %	2026-07-18	Source Scope: city · Period: 2021-10-01
11	Lausanne, Switzerland	41.6 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
12	Perth, Australia	40.6 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2021-12-31
13	Queenstown, New Zealand	40.2 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2023-12-31
14	Islington, United Kingdom	39.88 %	2026-09-17	Source Scope: city · Period: 2021-12-31
15	Lugano, Switzerland	39.6 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
16	Dudelange, Luxembourg	39.1 %	2026-07-18	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025
17	Leicester, United Kingdom	38.72 %	2026-09-17	Source Scope: city · Period: 2021-12-31
18	Cambridge, United Kingdom	38.08 %	2026-09-17	Source Scope: city · Period: 2021-03-21
19	New Westminster, Canada	37.49 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2021-12-31
20	Darwin, Australia	37.4 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2021-12-31
21	San Miguel de Abona, Spain	37.4 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
22	Salt, Spain	37.07 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
23	Aurora, Canada	36.76 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2021-12-31
24	Orihuela, Spain	36.72 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
25	Narva, Estonia	36.64 %	2026-07-18	Source Scope: city · Period: 2026-01-01
26	Vienna, Austria	36.4 %	2026-07-18	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-01-01
27	Pickering, Canada	36.3 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2021-12-31
28	Melbourne, Australia	36.17 %	2026-09-26	Source Scope: city · Period: 2021-12-31
29	Mogán, Spain	35.95 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31
30	Zürich, Switzerland	34.9 %	2026-08-03	Source Scope: city · Period: 2025-12-31

What the numbers say

Dubai, United Arab Emirates leads at 92.01 %.
Zürich, Switzerland sits at the other end with 34.9 %.
The middle of this ranking is 39.6 %, across 30 places that publish the metric.
The spread between first and last is 57.11 %.

Quick answer

What does Cities with the highest foreign-population share show?

Dubai, United Arab Emirates has the highest foreign-resident share of the 30 cities compared: 92.01 % (Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment (DSC), 2023-12-31).

How this list is built

Every row is a published foreign-resident share observation measured in %, ranked highest first. The values were observed between 2005 and 2026. A place appears only when it publishes this exact metric, so an absent place means missing data rather than a low value. Only published cities with at least 20,000 residents and city-level observations qualify.

Compare the displayed value, unit, source date and geographic grain together.
A city label does not change a regional observation into a city measurement.

Rows: 30 places
Geographic grain: city
Observation period: 2005-12-31 to 2026-01-01
Last checked: 2026-09-26
With an official source link: 30 of 30

Cite this page

Open a format to select or copy this ImmigrationDB compilation citation. The native disclosure and text fallback work without JavaScript.

APA citation

ImmigrationDB. (2026, October 16). Cities with the highest foreign-population share [ImmigrationDB compilation; version c31310dfb01e7b17928aeb82960ba52e]. ImmigrationDB. https://immigrationdb.com/reports/cities-with-highest-foreign-population-share/ Retrieved 2026-10-16. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BibTeX citation

@misc{immigrationdb_immigrationdb_cities-with-the-highest-foreign-population-share_e9f8dee30c63,
  author = {ImmigrationDB},
  title = {Cities with the highest foreign-population share},
  publisher = {ImmigrationDB},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-10-16},
  version = {c31310dfb01e7b17928aeb82960ba52e},
  url = {https://immigrationdb.com/reports/cities-with-highest-foreign-population-share/},
  note = {Retrieved 2026-10-16. ImmigrationDB compilation. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/},
}

Markdown citation

[Cities with the highest foreign-population share](https://immigrationdb.com/reports/cities-with-highest-foreign-population-share/) — ImmigrationDB; ImmigrationDB; version c31310dfb01e7b17928aeb82960ba52e; retrieved 2026-10-16; built 2026-10-16.

This citation identifies the ImmigrationDB compilation/page. Underlying source publishers and datasets retain their own terms; inspect the Sources section and cite those records separately. View the underlying source records.

Sources

Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment (DSC)Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment (DSC) · Checked 2026-08-03
Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC)Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC) · Checked 2026-08-03
Official statistics: foreign residentsSTATEC and Luxembourg public authorities · Checked 2026-07-18
Malta NSO official material — nso mt nr122 2025 table11 web extractMalta National Statistics Office · Checked 2026-07-18
Official statistics: foreign residentsSTATEC and Luxembourg public authorities · Checked 2026-07-18
Official statistics: populationMalta National Statistics Office and official public authorities · Checked 2026-07-18
Official statistics: foreign residentsSTATEC and Luxembourg public authorities · Checked 2026-07-18
Ständige Wohnbevölkerung, Staatsangehörigkeit = Ausland, Gemeinde grain, 31.12.2024.Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS) · Checked 2026-09-17
Official statistics: foreign-resident shareStatistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT) and Eurostat · Checked 2026-07-18
EurostatEurostat · Checked 2026-08-03

Show 2 more sources

Australian Bureau of StatisticsAustralian Bureau of Statistics · Checked 2026-08-03
Stats NZStats NZ · Checked 2026-08-03