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 1% of the whole population.[2]

South Korea is another monoethnic country. There are small ethnic minorities that exist in South Korea, where they account for around 1% of the South Korean population. These include around 650,000 Chinese immigrants.[3]

Most Sub-Saharan 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]

Monoethnic countries with more than 85%

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2016)

Sovereign states

Country Population Dominant group % Ref
 Maldives 379,270 Maldivians 100% [6]
 North Korea 24,252,231 Koreans 99.9% [7][8]
 Lesotho 2,203,821 Basotho 99.7% [9]
 Egypt 106,437,241 Egyptians
(including Copts) 		99.7% [10]
 Morocco 37,112,080 Moroccans 99% [11]
 Cyprus 1,266,676 Greek Cypriots 98.8% [12]
 Japan[13][14][15] 126,702,133 Japanese 98.5% [16]
 Armenia[17][18][19] 3,018,854 Armenians 98.1% [20]
 Algeria 44,700,000 Algerians 98% [21]
 Albania 2,876,591 Albanians 98% [22]
 Tunisia 11,721,177 Tunisians 98% [23]
 Hungary 9,937,628 Hungarians 98% [24]
 Bangladesh 162,951,560[25] Bengalis 98% [26]
 Jordan 10,945,512 Arabs 98% [27]
 Mongolia 3,081,677 Mongols 97% [28]
 Poland[29][30] 38,523,261 Poles 96.9% [31]
 South Korea 51,446,201 Koreans 96% [32]
 Portugal 10,839,514 Portuguese 95.9% [33]
 Lebanon 6,859,408 Lebanese
 95% [34]
 Czech Republic 10,610,947 Czechs 95% [35]
 Haiti 11,439,646 Afro-Haitians 95% [36]
 Iceland 332,529 Icelanders 94% [37]
 Finland 5,537,364 Finns 93.5% [38]
 Greece 11,183,716 Greeks 93% [39]
 China 1,384,688,986 Han Chinese 91.6% [40]
 Azerbaijan 10,067,100 Azerbaijanis 91.6% [41]
 Croatia 3,871,833 Croats 91.6% [42]
 Italy 60,483,973 Italians 91.5% [43]
 Cambodia 15,552,211 Khmers 90% [44]
 Romania 16,792,868 Romanians 88.9% [45]
 Ukraine 41,554,836 (unoccupied territory) Ukrainians ~87% [46]
 Georgia 3,716,858 (unoccupied territory) Georgians 86.8% [47]
 Denmark 5,873,420 Danes 86.11% [48]
 Thailand 59,878,001 Thais 86% [49]
 Vietnam 96,208,984 Vietnamese 85.3% [50]
 Somalia 15,893,219 Somalis 85% [51]
 Turkmenistan 6,031,187 Turkmens 85% [52]

Unrecognized states and dependent territories

Country Population Dominant group % Ref
 Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) 145,053 Armenians 99.7% [53][54]
 Northern Cyprus 265,100 Turkish Cypriots 99.2% [55]
 Somaliland 3,500,000 Somalis
 99%
 [56]
 Hong Kong 7,249,907 Cantonese people and Taishanese people 92% [57]
 Kosovo 1,935,259 Albanians 92% [58]
 Greenland 55,877 Inuit 89.7% [59]
 South Ossetia 53,532 Ossetians 89.9% [60]
 Macau 614,458 Cantonese people and Macanese people 88.7% [61]
 Åland 379,270 Ålanders 86.5% [62]

See also

References

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  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].
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