Green Card Lottery Winners Worldwide: Complete Statistics From DV-2000 to DV-2026
Since DV-2000, the U.S. Diversity Visa (DV) Program—known as the Green Card Lottery—has annually selected roughly 80,000 to 150,000 prospective applicants worldwide, while the number of Diversity Visas actually available has generally been capped at 50,000 because of the NACARA reservation.[travel.state][travel.state][travel.state]
What the Numbers Mean
A “winner” in the DV Lottery is a selectee: a person whose entry was randomly chosen and who, together with an eligible spouse and unmarried children under 21, may apply for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status. Selection does not guarantee a Green Card.
The Department of State selects more applicants than the number of visas because not every selectee completes the process. The statutory DV ceiling is up to 55,000 visas, but NACARA reserved up to 5,000 visas beginning with DV-2000, reducing the DV category to about 50,000 visas per year.[travel.state][travel.state][travel.state]
Global Winners: DV-2000 to DV-2026
The table below uses official U.S. Department of State figures wherever available. “Selectees” means registered and notified prospective applicants, including eligible family members; it is not the number of Green Cards issued.[travel.state][travel.state][cartesabz]
| DV Program | Fiscal Year | Approx. Global Selectees / Prospective Applicants | Approx. Qualified Entries | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DV-2000 | FY2000 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved State Department summary | Mail-in entry period | First year with the 50,000 DV visa limit under NACARA. [travel.state][travel.state] |
| DV-2001 | FY2001 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved State Department summary | Mail-in entry period | Paper-entry era. [2001-2009.state] |
| DV-2002 | FY2002 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved State Department summary | Mail-in entry period | Paper-entry era. [usa-green-card][2001-2009.state] |
| DV-2003 | FY2003 | ~87,000 | ~6.2 million | Last major paper-mail lottery cycle; entries were mailed to the Kentucky Consular Center. [usa-green-card] |
| DV-2004 | FY2004 | ~100,000 | Not stated in retrieved bulletin | Annual DV limit reduced to 50,000. [travel.state] |
| DV-2005 | FY2005 | Official selectee total not located in the retrieved bulletin | Over 6.3 million | Electronic entry transition period. [aila] |
| DV-2006 | FY2006 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved bulletin | Not stated in retrieved bulletin | Annual DV limit reduced to 50,000. [1n2] |
| DV-2007 | FY2007 | ~82,000 | Over 5.5 million | Official State Department results release. [cartesabz] |
| DV-2008 | FY2008 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved summary | Electronic entries only | First fully electronic-entry cycle. [travel.state] |
| DV-2009 | FY2009 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved summary | Not stated here | Electronic-entry era. [2001-2009.state] |
| DV-2010 | FY2010 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved summary | Not stated here | Electronic-entry era. [2001-2009.state] |
| DV-2011 | FY2011 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved summary | Not stated here | Annual DV limit remained 50,000. [travel.state][travel.state] |
| DV-2012 | FY2012 | 100,021 | 14,768,658 principal entries | Official Selected Entrants figure. [travel.state] |
| DV-2013 | FY2013 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved summary | Not stated here | Electronic-entry era. |
| DV-2014 | FY2014 | 140,660 | Not stated here | Official Selected Entrants figure. [travel.state] |
| DV-2015 | FY2015 | 125,514 | Not stated here | Official Selected Entrants figure. [travel.state] |
| DV-2016 | FY2016 | 91,563 | 11,391,134 principal entries | Official Selected Entrants figure. |
| DV-2017 | FY2017 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved summary | Not stated here | Electronic-entry era. |
| DV-2018 | FY2018 | 115,968 | 14,692,258 valid entries | Official Selected Entrants figure. |
| DV-2019 | FY2019 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved summary | Not stated here | Electronic-entry era. |
| DV-2020 | FY2020 | ~132,000 | 14,722,798 principal entries | Official DV statistics hub and annual reporting. |
| DV-2021 | FY2021 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved summary | Not stated here | NACARA reduction ended; DV limit returned to approximately 55,000. [govinfo] |
| DV-2022 | FY2022 | Official annual total not located in the retrieved summary | Not stated here | Electronic-entry era. |
| DV-2023 | FY2023 | 119,262 | 9,570,291 qualified entries | Official Selected Entrants figure. |
| DV-2024 | FY2024 | ~143,000 | 22,185,619 qualified entries | Official Selected Entrants figure. |
| DV-2025 | FY2025 | 131,060 | 19,927,656 qualified entries | Program ended September 30, 2025. |
| DV-2026 | FY2026 | Published by country; overall processing total changes during the year | 20,822,624 qualified entries | Visa year ends September 30, 2026. |
Long-Term Pattern
From DV-2003 to DV-2007, global selections were generally in the 82,000–100,000 range, based on the official figures available for those years. From DV-2012 onward, selections commonly ranged from about 92,000 to 143,000, with DV-2024 reaching approximately 143,000 prospective applicants.[travel.state][travel.state][cartesabz][usa-green-card]
The number of entries has grown much faster than the number of selections. DV-2003 received about 6.2 million qualified entries, DV-2012 about 14.77 million, DV-2024 about 22.19 million, and DV-2026 about 20.82 million.[usa-green-card][travel.state]
Selections vs. Green Cards Issued
| Category | Meaning | Typical annual scale |
|---|---|---|
| Qualified entries | Valid lottery registrations received | About 5.5–22 million since DV-2003 [cartesabz][usa-green-card] |
| Selectees | Principal winners plus eligible spouse and children notified for processing | About 82,000–143,000 where officially reported [cartesabz][travel.state] |
| DV visas available | Statutory annual ceiling after NACARA adjustment | 50,000 for DV-2000 through DV-2020; about 55,000 thereafter [travel.state][travel.state][govinfo] |
| Green Cards obtained | Selectees who complete the process and receive immigrant visas or adjust status | Limited by the annual visa ceiling and eligibility |
Why Selection Does Not Equal a Green Card
Even after selection, an applicant must submit the required immigrant visa or adjustment-of-status forms, pay fees, meet education or work-experience requirements, pass medical and security checks, attend an interview where required, and complete processing before the fiscal year ends.
The Department of State states that entitlement to DV status lasts only through the end of the fiscal year for which the applicant was selected; visas cannot be issued after September 30 of that year.[travel.state][travel.state]
Regional and Country Limits
DV visas are divided among six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America plus the Caribbean. No single country may receive more than 7 percent of the available Diversity Visas in a program year.[travel.state][aila]
This regional structure explains why some countries with very large entry volumes do not necessarily receive proportionally large numbers of selectees: the program is designed to promote immigration diversity from countries with low recent admission rates.
Important Note on Older Data
For DV-2000, DV-2001, DV-2002, DV-2006, and DV-2008 through DV-2011, the exact worldwide selectee totals were not present in the official pages retrieved for this article. The Department of State’s archived Visa Bulletins, press releases, and annual DV Selected Entrants pages remain the authoritative sources for those exact totals.[travel.state][cartesabz][1n2]
For publication, the safest wording is: “Officially reported global selectee totals range from about 82,000 to more than 140,000 per year across the DV-2003–DV-2025 period, while the annual visa ceiling was generally 50,000 until the NACARA reduction ended with DV-2021.”[travel.state][cartesabz][govinfo]
Official Sources to Cite
- U.S. Department of State, Diversity Visa Program Statistics.
- U.S. Department of State, annual Selected Entrants pages for each DV program.
- U.S. Department of State, DV instructions, confirming the annual ceiling and eligibility framework.
- U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletins, for NACARA reductions, regional allocations, and fiscal-year deadlines.[travel.state][travel.state][travel.state]
- U.S. Department of State archived press release for DV-2007 results.[cartesabz]