More U.S. students go to the United Kingdom for international study than any other country, according to the International Institute of Education's 2020 Open Doors report.

The report says that in 2018-19, a total of 39,358 U.S. students were taking courses in the United Kingdom. That represents 11.3% of the 347,099 U.S. students taking part in academic programs in other nations in 2018-19.

Italy is a close second; 39,043 students traveled to that nation for higher education programs.

Here are the 10 countries that were the most popular destinations for U.S. college students taking classes in other nations:.

     Nation            Number of students        Percentage
United Kingdom           39,358                         11.3%
Italy                                39,043                          11.2%
Spain                              33,849                            9.8%
France                            18,465                            5.3%
Germany                        12,029                            3.5%
Ireland                            11,777                            3.4%
China                              11,639                            3.4%
Australia                         10,685                            3.1%
Japan                                8,928                            2.6%
Costa Rica                        8,333                            2.4%

Total                              347,099                          100%