Top Study Abroad Countries

Here are the top 20 most popular study abroad country destinations for US college students. The data is current for 2008. Our observations are as follows:

• Europe maintains 6 of the top 10 destination countries for studying abroad. Currently 57.4% of US students choose to study abroad in European countries.
• Asia has experienced tremendous recent growth with about 10.3% of students choosing to study there.
• Latin American countries account for 15% of U.S. study abroad students each year.
• For the 2006/2007 academic year, China, Argentina, South Africa, Ecuador, and India all experienced a high growth rate of over 20%, while France and Japan had growth of 10% over the previous year.
• Interestingly, the top 5 countries account for more than half of all students with 50.4% of the total. The top 20 countries account for 82.1% of all countries.
• All countries in the top 20 experienced positive year over year growth with the exception of Australia, Mexico, and Costa Rica.

Top 20 Destinations of U.S. Study Abroad Students

Rank	Country	Students 2005/06	Students 2006/07	Yearly Change	% of All Countries
	World Total	223,534	241,791	8.5	100
1	United Kingdom	32,109	32,705	1.9	14.6
2	Italy	26,078	27,831	6.7	12.5
3	Spain	21,881	24,055	9.7	10.7
4	France	15,602	17,233	10.5	7.7
5	China	8,830	11,064	25.3	4.9
6	Australia	10,980	10,747	-2.1	4.8
7	Mexico	10,022	9,461	-5.6	4.2
8	Germany	6,858	7,355	7.2	3.3
9	Ireland	5,499	5,785	5.2	2.6
10	Costa Rica	5,518	5,383	-2.4	2.4
11	Japan	4,411	5,012	13.6	2.2
12	Argentina	2,865	3,617	26.2	1.6
13	Greece	3,227	3,417	5.9	1.5
14	South Africa	2,512	3,216	28	1.4
15	Czech Republic	2,846	3,145	10.5	1.4
16	Chile	2,578	2,824	9.6	1.3
17	Ecuador	2,171	2,813	29.6	1.3
18	Austria	2,792	2,813	0.6	1.3
19	New Zealand	2,542	2,718	6.9	1.2
20	India	2,115	2,627	24.2	1.2