Top 10 Most Ethnically Diverse Countries in the World 2024

The world's population of 8.1 as of 2024 billion is characterised by remarkable diversity across languages, customs, religions, races, ethnicities, values, and traditions. Given this immense variability, it follows that many countries celebrate not only one but a multitude of cultures and ethnicities. However, identifying the most ethnically diverse nations can be complex, as diversity manifests in various forms and degrees across different regions.

Some countries stand out for their exceptional ethnic diversity, often owing to historical factors such as migration patterns, colonial legacies, or geopolitical considerations. Examples include countries like Canada, the United States, Brazil, and Australia, which have significant populations originating from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. These nations often prioritise multicultural policies and embrace the richness of their diverse heritage. Furthermore, countries located at the crossroads of civilisations or with long histories of trade and interaction tend to exhibit high levels of ethnic diversity. Examples include countries in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore, or in Africa, such as Nigeria and South Africa, where numerous ethnic groups coexist within national boundaries.

Uganda is the most ethnically diverse country with an ethnic fractionalisation of 93.02%.

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10 Most Ethnically Diverse Countries 2024

Fractionalisation, as defined by German researcher Erkan Gören in his 2013 study titled ‘Economic Effects of Domestic and Neighbouring Countries' Cultural Diversity’, represents the likelihood that two randomly selected individuals from a country's groups do not belong to the same group, whether defined by ethnicity, religion, or another criterion.

Here is the list:

In his study, Gören assessed the cultural diversity of 180 countries worldwide by considering the ethnicity and linguistic similarity among each country's major people groups. He posited that groups sharing a common language were more likely to share other cultural aspects, while groups with dissimilar languages likely exhibited significant cultural distinctions. Gören assigned each country a fractionalisation score ranging from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating the highest level of diversity and 0 representing the lowest.

Indeed, the methodology utilised by Erkan Gören holds significance when analysing countries like Brazil and Cameroon. In Brazil, despite the presence of a diverse range of races within the population, the prevalence of Portuguese as the primary language led Gören to conclude that the country's culture had undergone significant homogenisation. Consequently, Brazil received a low ranking for cultural diversity.

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