India had the largest diaspora in 2020: UN Report

As per the recently released UN Report – International Migration 2020 Highlights – by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division [2020], “India has the largest transnational community in the world”.

According to the UN Report, in 2020, as many as “18 million persons from India were living outside of their country of birth”.

With 11 million individuals each, other countries with a large diaspora included the Russian Federation and Mexico. China followed with 10 million individuals living abroad.

Of the 20 countries worldwide with the largest number of international migrants living overseas – 6 were from Europe, 5 from Central and South Asia, along with 4 from Eastern and South-East Asia.

Diasporas – that is, a group of individuals that spread from their original country to other countries – tend to play a significant role in the development of their country of origin.

Migrants that settle down abroad promote the development of their country of origin through foreign investment, innovation, trade, financial inclusion and access to technology.

Returning migrants, on the other hand, bring back with them the knowledge and experience acquired abroad. Such migrants also contribute to their countries of origin through the creation of jobs as entrepreneurs.

Top ten countries of origin for international migrants [by region, 2000 and 2020]

Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Between the years 2000 and 2020, migrant population living overseas grew for nearly all areas and countries worldwide. As per the UN Report, “India experienced the largest gain during that period [nearly 10 million].”

The number of international migrants has grown “robustly over the past two decades”.

In 2020, an estimated 281 million were living outside their country of origin. With 87 million, Europe was the region with the most number of international migrants globally. Northern America hosted the second largest number of migrants. Almost 59 million international migrants were living in North America in 2020.

According to the UN’s International Migration 2020 Highlights, “India’s diaspora, the largest in the world, is distributed across a number of major countries of destination”.

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