The 10 foreign economies that send the most students to American colleges

The number of foreign students in American schools has been surging over the past decade, and numbers are up again, according to newly released data from the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education (IIE).

Foreign students in the US were up 7.1% from last year with 1,043,839 students total, and international students now make up 5.2% of all higher education students in the US.

The influx of foreign students is vital for American universities, and especially public universities which have become increasingly dependent on foreign students to fund their budgets.

Here are the 10 foreign countries that send the most students to American colleges:

10. Mexico: With a population of about 122 million, Mexico sent 16,733 of its students to the US for college last year.

9. Japan: Japan, which has a population of about 127 million, had 19,060 of its citizens attend American colleges in 2015-16.

8. Brazil: Of the roughly 200 million people in Brazil, 19,370 went to the US for college last year.

7. Taiwan: Taiwan has close to 24 million people in it, and 21,127 went to college in America.

6. Vietnam: Vietnam has a population of about 90 million — 21,403 went to school in the US.

5. Canada: America's neighbor to the north, Canada, has a population of about 35 million, and 26,973 of them attended a US college last year.

4. South Korea: South Korea has a population of close to 50 million. Last year, 61,007 of its people went to college in the US.

3. Saudi Arabia: With a population of about 29 million, Saudi Arabia sent 61,287 of its students to the US for college last year.

2. India: India is the second largest country by population in the world with about 1.3 billion — 165,918 of its students went to an American college last year.

1. China: The most populous country in the world with about 1.4 billion people, 328,547 Chinese students went to college in the US in 2015-16.