India Has the World's Biggest Diaspora

India had the most people living abroad of any country worldwide in 2020, according to the UN’s latest data published in the World Migration Report 2022. Just under 17.9 million born in the country were recorded as living overseas as of the mid-year. Mexico and Russia, also large countries with vast populations, came in second and third place with 11.2 million and 10.8 million living abroad, respectively.

This chart shows how India overtook Mexico and Russia between 2000 and 2020, with an incredible 10 million more Indians now living abroad than 20 years ago.

According to the report, in terms of the countries that Indians are relocating to, the nearby Gulf nations rank particularly highly, with the United Arab Emirates the favored location (3,471,300 recorded Indian migrants in 2020) and Saudi Arabia placing third (2,502,337). This is largely due to job prospects there. However, the United States also continued to attract millions of people, ranking second (2,723,764).

There were a total of 281 million international migrants recorded worldwide in 2020, up from 173 million in 2000 and 221 million in 2010. The 2020 figure equated to a world average of roughly 3.6 percent of people living outside of their country of origin.