The world's two most populous nations, China and India, lead the way when it comes to students heading overseas. According to UNESCO, China sent 928,000 students abroad in 2017, while India sent out 332,000.
Vietnam almost doubled its students abroad in the five years since 2012, from fewer than 54,000 to approximately 95,000. Nigeria entered the top 10 in the last five years and was sending more than 85,000 students abroad in 2017 (rank 8). Less students from South Korea are studying abroad. In 2017, 105,000 left the country to study, down from almost 124,000 in 2012.