Indians abroad tops 17 million

by LAUREN CODLING

INDIA’S diaspora is the largest in the world, a United Nations (UN) report revealed on Monday (18).

It is estimated there are 17 million Indians living abroad, with the report also showing that the umber of migrants from the south Asian country has doubled from 7.98 million in 2000.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) attracts the largest number of Indian migrants, with around 3.5 million living there. This is followed by the US, which has two million Indian migrants, up from 1.04 million, the report revealed.

In the UK, an estimated 0.7 million people are Indian migrants. Approximately 258 million people are international migrants, a number that has surged by a half since the turn of the century. In comparison, the figure stood at 220 million in 2010 and 173 million in 2000.

Mexico follows India in second place, with 13 million of its people living outside the country. Bangladesh, with seven million people, and Pakistan, with six million, are other countries which account for diaspora settled in other countries.

Worldwide, 3.4 per cent of the population consists of international migrants, meaning those who live somewhere that is not their native birthplace.

Further findings revealed that over 60 per cent of all international migrants live in Asia, approximately 80 million, with Europe following slightly behind with a figure of 78 million.

Two thirds of migrants were apparently living in just 20 countries worldwide; the largest number resided in the US, at 50 million.

Saudi Arabia, Germany and Russia hosted the second, third and fourth largest numbers of migrants worldwide with around 12 million each; this was followed by the UK and Northern Ireland with almost nine million.

In terms of gender, the report said females comprise just under half of all international migrants. Predominantly, women outnumber male migrants in Europe, while in Asia, migrants are mainly male.

Migration contributed to over 40 per cent of the population growth in northern America between 2000 and 2015, and the report additionally found the population in Europe would have declined during that time period without migration.

The latest survey, published every two years, was released on International Migrants Day (18).

Liu Zhenmin, the UN under-secretary general for Economic and Social Affairs, said: “Reliable data and evidence are critical to combat misperceptions about migration and to inform migration policies.

“These new estimates of numbers of international migrants around the world will provide an important baseline for member states as they begin their negotiations on the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.”

The human rights of migrants and the need for safe, well-managed migration policies are included in the set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted unanimously by the UN member nations in 2015, and an international conference on migration is planned for late next year.

In 2016, all sovereign states that are members of the UN adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. The declaration stated a number of commitments

dedicated to protecting the human rights of all refugees and migrants, regardless of status.

The declaration said it would be supporting the world’s refugees by adopting a global compact on refugees due for proposal in 2018.