The Indian diaspora has increased 10% from 15.9 million in 2015 to 17.5 million in 2019, making it the largest in the world, according to the UN’s International Migrant Stock 2019.
“The estimates are based on official national statistics on the foreign-born or the foreign population obtained from population censuses, population registered or nationally representative surveys,” the UN said in a press statement.
It now consists of 6.4% of the total global migrant population. After India, migrants from Mexico constituted the second largest population with 11.8 million, followed by China with 10.7 million, Russia with 10.5 million, Syria with 8.2 million and Bangladesh with 7.8 million.
At the country level, about half of all international migrants reside in only 10 countries, with the United States of America hosting the largest number of international migrants (51 million), equal to about 19 per cent of the world’s total.
In 1990, India stood at number three as a source of international migrants at 6.6 million with Russia sending 12.7 million abroad and Afghanistan 6.8 million. In 2019, Russia dropped to the fourth position behind India, Mexico and China with 10.5 million migrants.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the top destination of Indian migrants followed by the US, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Oman, as per the data by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division.
The ministry of external affairs identifies the number of non-resident Indians and people of Indian origin around the world at 31 million.
India has hosted 2,07,000 refugees as per the UN reports, among which Bangladesh was a top source of migrants to India, followed by Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and China.
Out of the international migrants in the country, the female population was 48.8 per cent and the median age of international migrants was 47.1 years. The highest number of international migrants in the country came from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.
UN Under-Secretary-General for DESA Liu Zhenmin said, “These data are critical for understanding the important role of migrants and migration in the development of both countries of origin and destination.”
Ensuring an orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people will contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The report added that forced displacements across international borders were on an increase. Between 2010 and 2017, the global number of refugees and asylum seekers increased by about 13 million contributing to an increase in the number of all international migrants
