10 most populous nations that don’t have birthright citizenship: list

By CP Staff
Monday, July 06, 2026

2. China

At one point, the most populous country on earth, but still a close second with around 1.41 billion people, the People’s Republic of China does not have birthright citizenship.

According to the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, anyone “born in China whose parents are both Chinese nationals or one of whose parents is a Chinese national shall have Chinese nationality.”

The country does grant nationality to anyone “born in China whose parents are stateless or of uncertain nationality and have settled in China.”

Ironically, China was a key focus in the 1898 Supreme Court case U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, in which the child of Chinese nationals born in California successfully argued before the high court that he was a U.S. citizen.

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