Where the Chinese Diaspora Lives · 13 Countries, Southeast Asia Leads

Global Demographics · Top 13 Countries by Ethnic Chinese Population

Where the Chinese Diaspora Lives · 13 Countries

The overseas Chinese population concentrates heavily in Southeast Asia. Thailand (9.4M) and Malaysia (7.5M) lead by absolute count. The United States (5.5M) is the largest outside the SE Asia belt, followed by Peru (3.0M), Indonesia (2.8M) and Singapore (2.7M). Combined, the top-13 countries house well over 40 million people of Chinese ancestry outside of China.

Countries with the most ethnic Chinese population — top 13. Thailand 9.4M, Malaysia 7.5M, USA 5.5M, Peru 3.0M, Indonesia 2.8M, Singapore 2.7M, Myanmar 1.7M, Canada 1.7M, Australia 1.4M, Philippines 1.4M, S. Korea 1.1M, France 1.2M, Japan 1.0M. Source: Wikipedia. — Countries with the largest overseas ethnic Chinese populations (Top 13). Data: Wikipedia. Note: people with Chinese ancestry, excluding China. Data is from different years but fairly recent.

Why this matters for B2B

For any brand crossing borders in food, health, home goods or beauty, the U.S. 5.5M Chinese-American population is a mainstream U.S. consumer segment — concentrated in California, New York, Texas, Washington and the greater Bay Area. Southeast Asia's concentrated diaspora also drives cross-border retail flows tied to gift, remittance and heritage-product demand. Cube-Age's Houston hub sits close to the fast-growing Texas Chinese-American consumer base. Pair with U.S. ancestry heritage groups (c14) and China trading partners (c50).

Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), state GDP by industry, 2025 series. Visualization: Voronoi / Visual Capitalist ("Manufacturing's Share of U.S. GDP by State"). Original image reproduced above with source attribution intact.