For InterNations, the new year is certainly off to a good start: we have just welcomed the two millionth global mind. It seems like it was only yesterday that we celebrated InterNations member no. 1,000,000 here at the Munich head office.
Overall, 400,000 new people joined our international community in 2015. In the past year, our numerous InterNations Ambassadors and Group Consuls hosted an amazing 40,000 official events and activities for 1.25 million guests around the world.
These numbers obviously speak for themselves. Nevertheless, let’s take a closer look at some of the 390 InterNations Communities across the globe, as well as the two million global minds they now connect.
From Munich to London to Dubai: The Most Active Cities
Unsurprisingly, the InterNations Munich Community — where it all began more than eight years ago — is our third-largest worldwide, following closely behind London, probably Europe’s most international city, and the uncontested winner Dubai, the leading expat hub for the entire Middle East. Munich and London, together with vibrant Madrid and Brussels, the heart of the European Union, are also among our top communities when it comes to the number of official events and activities per month.
No wonder: the most popular interests among our members include “dining out”, “lunch & brunch”, “sightseeing”, “movies”, and “professional networking” — and these metropolises offer ample opportunity to find other international people to explore the city with, 
to try out a hip new restaurant, or to rebuild your business network after moving abroad. But expats with somewhat more specialized interests can also find someone to share their personal passion.
An InterNations Munich Group dedicated to Schafkopf (literally: ‘sheep’s head’), a popular Bavarian card game, might not be particularly surprising, considering the location, but we have an equal number of backgammon enthusiasts in Munich as well. Not to mention the groups catering to outdoor painters and metalheads in Dubai, or to burger lovers and conspiracy-thriller book club members in the UK capital.
From Palau to Maseru: The Tiniest InterNations Communities
In comparison to the bustling InterNations Communities in the global top three, with over 60,000 members in Dubai alone, foreign residents in our smallest communities might be feeling somewhat lonely. A glance at our member statistics reveals that we even have a few expats currently living in Pyongyang, though the North Korean capital is hardly known as the most welcoming of destinations. 
In comparison, the Pacific serenity of Micronesia seems a lot more appealing. However, there are only 89 InterNations members right now, spread out over the largest of more than 2,100 islands, like Kiribati or Palau, and a total surface area of more than seven million square kilometers.
At least, our 175 members in Maseru have a far easier time if they are looking for a bigger and busier expat community nearby: they can simply leave the landlocked enclave of Lesotho for a trip to Durban or Johannesburg.
From Language Skills to Travel Destinations: Record-Breaking Members
And what about individual InterNations members rather than entire InterNations Communities? If our member no. 2,000,000 is the ambitious sort, they have some rather challenging benchmarks to meet. The most polyglot person on our platform lists 20 different languages in their member profile, and the most widely traveled member has been to an astonishing 292 destinations across the globe — and counting.
Potentially, InterNations also has some ambitious goals to aim for: according to global market research company Finaccord, there are currently over 53 million expats worldwide. A startling figure that shows how many people are in need of a supportive community like ours and the company of other global minds.
But don’t worry — we are not actually planning for rampant growth in the future. Still today, with a size of two million, we make sure that every new registration on our website is individually reviewed in order to protect our members from spammers, combat fake profiles, and hold up our high quality standards. InterNations will always remain the trusted and close-knit community that it is and that our members appreciate.
Here’s not only to the next million, but especially to the two million highly international, widely traveled, multilingual, open-minded, social, and welcoming people that have already found their way to us. In short: here’s to you!
Hello,
I have been receiving your e-mails.
Last week I submitted an aplication for membership and you informed I wa not accepted.
I didn´t pay a membership but I registered before, could you check on this matter.
I am a Mexican Diplomat who has lived in Hourton, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Ottawa and Warsaw, and currently in Mexico City.
regards
Hi Monica,
Thanks for getting in touch! I’m sorry to hear about this issue. I’ll forward your enquiry to our Member Relations Team and ask them to look into this matter. You can contact them via [email protected].
Best,
Margit
Hallo! I would like you to inform me how could i become an active member.
Thanks in advance
@Alvaro:
Thanks for getting in touch! Have you already joined our community via the registration form on http://www.internations.org?
Once your registration is complete, just have a look at the Events calendar via the Events tab in the navigation menu on your start page. It’ll keep you up-to-date on official events and activities in your InterNations Community.
i have been in touch with some friends around the world who have the same thing, and who comment on ours InterNations , they said that they have most of the activities on Saturday and Sunday when people do not work and they have it sometimes at day light ,and they bring sometimes families and children around, activities such as: sports,visiting areas, sight seeing, visiting church, museum, archeological places, having picnic or barbecue ,..etc. They said that meeting every time at night in a bar has nothing special because any one by himself can go to any bar by himself and meet people !
Hi Hakim,
Thank you for your detailed feedback! I’ll forward your comments to our Community Management Team. As far as I can tell, we do have several additional groups for activities in Limassol and Nicosia that are actually quite diverse and not solely focused on bar meet-ups (e.g. city trotters, cultural activities). However, they don’t seem to have been active in a while. Maybe it would also help to contact the respective Group Consuls directly and ask them when they are planning their next activity…?
Best,
Margit
@Hakim:
I’ve briefly talked to Community Management about the situation in Cyprus, and here’s what they know about the InterNations Communities there: we have two communities in Cyprus, Nicosia and Limassol.
The official events there often take place on Friday night, taking into consideration that people don’t have to work the next day. They’re indeed focusing on after-work drinks or parties, but in return for the entrance fees for Basic members every attendee can enjoy a free welcome drink and snacks.
However, there are also a few InterNations Groups there, such as City Trotters or Cultural Discoveries in Nicosia or an Outdoors Group and an Art&Culture Group in Limassol. Just check out our Groups section for upcoming activities or contact the Group Consuls directly to remind them of organizing and announcing a new activity.
Of course, if you can’t find anything you’re interested in, you could also become active themselves by becoming an InterNations Consul and starting a new Group. More info about the Consul role here: https://www.internations.org/get-involved/internations-consul/?ref=fo_inc
you will say people are working next day , but some meetings can be held at the week ends and at day light where people can know one another better , the people can bring families and children , it will not be baoring like it is now , all the meetings are held in a bar , some people can not drink and have to drive a car back home, others have to work early the next day, some don’t drink alcohol at all, the people who come to visit Cyprus are interesting in visiting museums,archeological and historical places , sights, and at day light, knowing people at day light is different , it has a more profound meaning, the Internations is charging 8 € each time from each person, we can have a more useful value from this money, and people can get more advantage of this money by offering more useful things to the people visiting Cyprus. Thanks.
Cyprus Internations are held always in bars and at night , in other countries there are gatherings and meetings at day light , activities during week ends and in day light , when people do not work next day, activities, sport events, excurtions, visiting sights , historicals, museums,archelogical sights , interesting areas which are useful for the people who visit Cyprus, so it will not be boaring like it is now, so you are taking 8 € or what soever it may be more useful for some people to take advantage for this money they are paying especially there are some people who do not drink alcohol and may work the next day and have to drive a car back home.
Very succesfull! Hope to be of use in any way and help make their staying in Quito a great experience. In the same way I expect in Aruba from the 12th of february!
@Juan Carlos:
Thank you! Have a great time in Aruba!
This is wonderful for thé future for each member i need to Talk to thé webmaster
@Thiam:
Thanks for getting in touch! Why do you need to talk to our webmaster? If there are any technical issues, please let me know. You can also contact our Member Relations Team via [email protected].
How do I become a member.
Thank You.
Jytte Gillies
Hi Jytte,
Thanks for getting in touch! I’ve forwarded your request to our Member Relations team, so they can handle it. You can reach them via [email protected].
Best,
Margit
Congratulations!! Keep up the good work!! 😉
@Jorge:
Thank you for your kind words!