Monoethnicity

Monoethnicity is the existence of a single ethnic group in a given region or country. It is the opposite of polyethnicity.

An example of a largely monoethnic country is Japan. It is a common belief in Japan that the entire country is monoethnic, but a few ethnic minorities live in Japan (e.g. Koreans, Ainus, and Ryukyuans).[1] They represent around 2.3% of the whole population.[2]

South Korea is another monoethnic country. There are small immigrant populations that exist in South Korea, where they account for around 5.2% of the South Korean population. These include around 900,000 Chinese immigrants, many of whom are of Korean descent.[3]

Most African countries have what would be considered a mono-racial society, but it is common to find dozens of ethnic groups within the same country.

The Yugoslav Wars are noted as having made Yugoslavia's successor states "de facto and de jure monoethnic nation-states",[4] with Bosnia and Herzegovina further diving itself into mono-ethnic enclaves.[5]

Because not all countries collect data on ethnicity, and the collection of data usually relies on self-reporting, it can be difficult to discern how monoethnic a country is.

Monoethnic countries with more than 85% homogenity

Sovereign states

Rank Country Population Dominant group % Notes Ref
1 North Korea 26,298,666 Korean 99.998% [6]
2 Egypt 111,247,248 Egyptians 99.7% [7]
3 Lesotho 2,227,548 Basotho 99.7% [8]
4 Tunisia 12,048,847 Arab-Amazigh 98% [9]
5 Bangladesh 168,697,184 Bengali 99% [10]
6 Morocco 37,387,585 Arab-Amazigh 99% Does not include data from Western Sahara [11]
7 Vanuatu 318,007 Ni-Vanuatu 99% [12]
8 Armenia 2,976,765 Armenian 98.1% [13]
9 Albania 3,107,100 Albanian 98% [14]
10 Japan 123,219,024 Japanese 96.9% [15]
11 Poland 38,746,310 Polish 96.9% This number represents the percentage of people who indicated Polish as their primary ethnicity [16]
12 Tonga 104,889 Tongan 96.5% [17]
13 Kiribati 116,545 I-Kiribati 95.78% [18]
14 Marshall Islands 82,011 Marshallese 95.6% [19]
15 Cambodia 17,063,669 Khmer 95.4% [20]
16 Solomon Islands 726,799 Melanesian 95.4% [21]
17 Lebanon 5,364,482 Arabs 97% [22]
18 Portugal 10,207,177 Portuguese 95% [23]
19 South Korea 51,117,378 Koreans 94.6% These include all foreign residents, regardless of whether they are of Korean descent or not. Many foreigners in Korea are either returning migrants or their descendants, especially the Chinese-Korean population. [24]
20 Nauru 9,892 Nauruan 94.6% [25]
21 Azerbaijan 10,650,239 Azerbaijani 91.6% [26]
22 Croatia 4,150,116 Croatian 91.6% [27]
23 China 1,416,043,270 Han Chinese 91.1% [28]
24 Italy 58,947,905 Italian 91% [29]
25 Saudi Arabia 36,544,431 Arab 90% [30]
26 Finland 5,603,851 Finns 89.8% [31]
27 Romania 18,148,155 Romanian 89.3% Data represents only those who declared an ethnicity in the 2021 census [32]
28 Turkmenistan 5,744,151 Turkmen 87.6% [33]
29 Georgia 4,900,961 Georgian 86.8% [34]
30 Vietnam 105,758,975 Viet 85.3% [35]

Unrecognized states and dependent territories

Country Population Dominant group % Ref
Palestine 5,483,450 Palestinian 91% [36][37]
Northern Cyprus 382,836 Turkish Cypriots 99.2 % [38]
Somaliland 6,200,000 Somalis 99% [39]
Republic of China (Taiwan) 23,347,374 Han Chinese 97% [40][41]
Hong Kong 7,249,907 Han Chinese 92% [42]
Kosovo 1,586,659 Albanians 92% [43]
Greenland 55,877 Inuit 89.7% [44]
South Ossetia 53,532 Ossetians 89.9% [45]
Macau 614,458 Han Chinese 88.7% [46]
Åland 30,696 Ålanders 86.5% [47]

See also

References

  1. ^ Arakaki, Osamu (2008), Refugee Law and Practice in Japan, Ashgate Publishing, p. 36, ISBN 978-0754670094
  2. ^ (in Japanese) [1] Archived 14 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine 平成２４年末現在における外国人登録者統計について].
  3. ^ "Trying to teach South Korea about discrimination", The Los Angeles Times, 24 February 2009
  4. ^ Dempsey, Gary (2002), Exiting the Balkan Thicket, Cato Institute, pp. 91–, ISBN 978-1-930865-17-4
  5. ^ Memisevic, Ehlimana (5 December 2022). "How Bosnia and Herzegovina is enshrining discrimination". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  6. ^ North Korea - CIA World Factbook, archived from the original on 18 January 2026
  7. ^ Egypt - CIA World Factbook, archived from the original on 18 January 2026
  8. ^ Lesotho - CIA World Factbook, archived from the original on 19 January 2026
  9. ^ "Tunisia - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 10 January 2021
  10. ^ "Bangladesh - CIA World Factbook", www.cia.gov, archived from the original on 10 January 2021, retrieved 25 November 2024
  11. ^ "Morocco - CIA World Factbook", CIA.gov, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 9 January 2021
  12. ^ "Vanuatu - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook, CIA, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 9 January 2021, Ni-Vanuatu 99%, other 1% (European, Asian, other Melanesian, Polynesian, Micronesian, other) (2020 est.))
  13. ^ "Armenia - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 4 January 2021
  14. ^ "Minority Rights and the Republic of Albania: Missing the Implementation", lup.lub.lu.se, p. 11, From the ethnic point of view, according to the Albanian government's reports, 98 percent of the population is Albanian and only two percent consist of Greek, Macedonian, Montenegrin recognized as national Minorities and Roma, Aromaninan recognized as ethnic - linguistic Minorities by the Albanian state.
  15. ^ "Japan - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook, CIA, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 5 January 2021
  16. ^ "Poland - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook, CIA, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 4 January 2021, represents ethnicity declared first
  17. ^ "Tonga - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook, CIA, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 10 January 2021
  18. ^ "Kiribati - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook, CIA, 15 November 2024, archived from the original on 9 January 2021
  19. ^ Marshall Islands- CIA World Factbook, archived from the original on 15 January 2026
  20. ^ Cambodia- CIA World Factbook, archived from the original on 15 January 2026
  21. ^ Solomon Islands- CIA World Factbook, archived from the original on 16 January 2026
  22. ^ "Lebanon - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 11 January 2021
  23. ^ "Portugal - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 9 January 2021
  24. ^ "출입국통계". Ministry of Justice (in Korean). Retrieved April 4, 2025.
  25. ^ "Nauru - CIA World Factbook", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 9 January 2021
  26. ^ Azerbaijan - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 9 January 2021
  27. ^ Croatia - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 6 January 2021
  28. ^ China - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 6 January 2021
  29. ^ "Indicatori demografici, anno 2020" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  30. ^ Saudi Arabia - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 10 January 2021
  31. ^ "Population growth biggest in nearly 70 years | Statistics Finland". stat.fi. 26 April 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  32. ^ Romania - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 10 January 2021
  33. ^ Turkmenistan - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 10 January 2021
  34. ^ Georgia - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 9 January 2021
  35. ^ Vietnam - the World Factbook, 25 November 2024, archived from the original on 9 January 2021
  36. ^ "Gaza Strip", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 28 November 2023, archived from the original on 29 November 2023, retrieved 4 December 2023
  37. ^ "West Bank", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 14 November 2023, archived from the original on 13 November 2023, retrieved 4 December 2023
  38. ^ Tablo – 8 : Yaş Grubu, Milliyet ve Cinsiyete Göre Sürekli İkamet Eden (de-jure) KKTC Vatandaşı Nüfus. TOPLAM, archived from the original on 14 March 2016, retrieved 12 February 2019
  39. ^ "A look at Somaliland between clan politics, regional turmoil and November elections", New Internationalist, 1 October 2017, retrieved 12 July 2021
  40. ^ "中華民國行政院全球資訊網". 2.16.886.101.20003 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 1 December 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  41. ^ "中華民國 內政部戶政司 全球資訊網". 中華民國內政部戶政司. 1 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  42. ^ "Hong Kong", The World Factbook, CIA, archived from the original on 10 January 2021, retrieved 16 February 2020
  43. ^ "Population and housing census in Kosovo" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2024.
  44. ^ "North America :: Greenland – The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency", www.cia.gov, archived from the original on 9 January 2021, retrieved 7 February 2020
  45. ^ South Ossetia – Ethnic composition: 2015 census, archived from the original on 6 July 2018, retrieved 16 July 2018
  46. ^ "Macau", The World Factbook, CIA, archived from the original on 11 January 2021, retrieved 9 June 2020
  47. ^ "Åland", ÅSUB, retrieved 5 November 2024
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.