THE Indian diaspora, one of the most “vibrant and dynamic”, is the largest in the world, with 18 million people from the country living outside their homeland in 2020, the UN has said. The United Arab Emirates, the US and Saudi Arabia host the largest numbers of migrants from India, it said.

 

“India has the largest transnational population in the world. It has the most migrants abroad -- 18 million, which is a significant number and another feature which is very interesting about the Indian migrant population is that they’re really distributed all over the globe,” Population Affairs Officer in the Population Division at UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Clare Menozzi told PTI in an interview on Friday. Menozzi said while some transnational populations are really clustered in one country or region, the Indian diaspora is present in all continents and regions -- from the Gulf to Northern America to Australia, UK.

 

“It’s a very vibrant” and dynamic diaspora in the world, she said. The report, ‘International Migration 2020 Highlights’, by the Population Division of UN DESA, released on Friday said in 2020, 18 million persons from India were living outside of their country of birth. Other countries with a large diaspora included Mexico and Russia (11 million each), China (10 million) and Syria (8 million). The report said India’s large diaspora is distributed across a number of major countries of destination, with the UAE (3.5 million), the US (2.7 million) and Saudi Arabia (2.5 million).