Overseas Vietnamese (Vietnamese: người Việt hải ngoại, Việt kiều, or kiều bào) refers to the Vietnamese diaspora living outside of Vietnam.
The global overseas Vietnamese population is estimated at 5 to 6 million people.[71] The largest communities are in the United States, with over 2.3 million Vietnamese Americans, alongside significant populations in France, Australia, and Germany.[72][73] Smaller but historically important communities are also found in Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia.[74]
The Vietnamese diaspora emerged through several major waves of migration. Early migration occurred during the French colonial period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,[75] followed by large-scale refugee exodus after the Vietnam War in 1975.[76] In later decades, the diaspora grew further through family reunification, economic migration, and educational opportunities.[77]
Overseas Vietnamese continue to maintain strong cultural connections, including continued use of the Vietnamese language,[78] observance of traditional festivals such as Tết (Lunar New Year),[79] and close familial and economic connections, including approximately $14 billion USD in annual remittances to Vietnam.[80]
^"令和5年6月末現在における在留外国人数について" [Number of Foreign Residents as of June 2023]. Immigration Services Agency. 2023-10-13. Archived from the original on 2023-11-09. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
^外僑居留人數統計表11209 [Statistical Table for the Number of Foreign Residents as of September 2023]. National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the Interior, Republic of China (Taiwan). 2023-09-30. Archived from the original on 2023-11-16. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
^統計資料 [Statistics]. National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the Interior, Republic of China (Taiwan). 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-05-27. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
^L. Anh Hoang; Cheryll Alipio (2019). Money and Moralities in Contemporary Asia. Amsterdam University Press. p. 64. ISBN9789048543151. It is estimated that there are up to 150,000 Vietnamese migrants in Russia, but the vast majority of them are undocumented.
^Dlhopolec, Peter (2022-03-03). "The Vietnamese campaign for their rights: "We belong here"". The Slovak Spectator. Archived from the original on 2022-05-27. Retrieved 2022-05-27. The 2021 data published by the Foreigners' Police reveals that 7,235 people from Vietnam have permanent or temporary residence in the country.
^"U.S. Census Bureau Releases Key Stats in Honor of 2023 Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month | U.S. Department of Commerce". www.commerce.gov. 2023-05-01. Retrieved 2025-01-06. The estimated number of people of Chinese (except Taiwanese) descent in the United States in 2021. The Chinese (except Taiwanese) population was the largest Asian group, followed by Indian (4.8 million), Filipino (4.4 million), Vietnamese (2.3 million), Korean (2.0 million), and Japanese (1.6 million). These estimates represent individuals who reported a specific detailed Asian group alone as well as those who reported that detailed Asian group in combination with one or more other detailed Asian groups or another race(s).
^Mauk, Ben (2018-03-28). "A People in Limbo, Many Living Entirely on the Water". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-01-06. Most ethnic Vietnamese in the country continue to feel that they are Cambodians of Vietnamese origin. They refuse to give up hope that someday their Cambodian identity will be accepted in the country they call home. Instead, with somewhere between 400,000 and one million members, according to independent scholars, and virtually no international calls for Cambodia to uphold its own nationality laws, they are arguably one of the largest and least-supported stateless populations in the world.
^Batalova, Jeanne (2023-10-11). "Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States". migrationpolicy.org. Retrieved 2025-01-07. The end of the Vietnam War and the rapid U.S. military pullout in 1975 marked the beginning of large-scale migration from Vietnam to the United States. The U.S. government evacuated about 125,000 Vietnamese that year, most of whom had close ties to the U.S. military and could have been persecuted by the new Communist government. After their arrival, more Vietnamese refugees came to the United States seeking protection. The number of immigrants from Vietnam grew rapidly, roughly doubling in both the 1980s and 1990s, to 988,000 by 2000.
^Batalova, Jeanne (2023-10-11). "Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States". migrationpolicy.org. Retrieved 2025-01-07. Unlike in the past, when most Vietnamese came as refugees, today 87 percent of new Vietnamese lawful permanent residents (LPRs, also known as green-card holders) obtained their status through family reunification channels, either as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or through other family-sponsored pathways.
^Ratha, Dilip Kumar; Chandra, Vandana; Kim, Eung Ju; Mahmood, Syed Akhtar; Plaza, Sonia. "Remittances Slowed in 2023, Expected to Grow Faster in 2024". Migration and Development Brief. KNOMAD Trust Fund. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. Retrieved January 6, 2025.
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