iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
The United States could well be called the second home to foreign-born Hindus. A study by the Pew Research Center has highlighted this fact – outside India, the United States has the most foreign-born Hindus (2.6 million), accounting for 19% of them. Other popular destinations for Hindu migrants include the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where they are often temporary workers, though many routinely renew their work permits.
“The most popular pathway for Hindu migrants around the world is to move from India to the U.S. About 1.8 million Hindus have taken this route, making up 61% of all Indian immigrants in the U.S. as of 2020. Like other Indian immigrants, many Hindus arrive in the U.S. for employment and family reunification. They often have higher levels of education and higher family incomes than those who remain in India. The second-most common route for Hindu migrants is from Bangladesh to India. Nearly 1.6 million Hindus born in Bangladesh now live in India, and many of them were part of the mass migration following the 1947 Partition of India. If the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – were considered a single destination, a move from India to the GCC would be by far the most common one for Hindus. Roughly 3 million Hindus from India live in GCC countries, where foreign workers comprise half or more of the area’s workforce,” the Pew study has highlighted.
North America saw a sharp rise in Hindu migrants between 1990 and 2020, from 0.8 million to 3.0 million (a 267% increase). “This was driven primarily by a rise in the number of India-born Hindus living in the U.S., from 0.3 million to 1.8 million.” The number of Hindu migrants living around the world increased from 9.1 million in 1990 to 13.5 million in 2020 (up 48%). But Hindu migrants grew less than migrants overall (up 83%). While Hindus have consistently made up between 5% and 6% of the international migrant population during these decades, their regional patterns have changed considerably.
“In 1990, nearly eight-in-ten Hindu immigrants lived in the Asia-Pacific region. By 2020, that share had dropped to less than half. The number of Hindu migrants living in other parts of the world has grown steadily. In the Middle East-North Africa region, the number of foreign-born Hindus increased from roughly 0.7 million in 1990 to 3.3 million in 2020 (up 387%). This includes many who moved to GCC countries for work. Qatar saw the most growth in percentage terms of the six GCC countries: The number of Hindu migrants there rose more than 24,000%, from around 1,000 in 1990 to 290,000 in 2020. In sheer numbers, the UAE saw the steepest increase among the GCC countries; the number of Hindu migrants there grew from 140,000 to 1.1 million (up 673%) during this timespan,” the study pointed out. “Within the Asia-Pacific region, the stock of Hindu migrants living in Malaysia grew more than 15 times, from 30,000 to 470,000 (an increase of over 1,700%). This was driven primarily by migrant workers from Nepal who arrived in search of jobs. In 2020, Malaysia was the seventh-largest destination for Hindu migrants.”
India, the world’s second-most populous country in 2020, is the leading source of Hindu migrants, with 7.6 million Hindus born in India now living elsewhere. The study adds that the only countries aside from India in which Hindus are the largest group of migrants are Nepal and Bhutan. However, these countries have relatively small populations overall, and they are not among the top destinations for Hindu migrants.
Hindu migrants make up a small share of all international migrants (5%), with 13 million Hindus living outside their country of birth, as of 2020. Hindus are underrepresented among international migrants compared with their share of the global population (15%). “Hindus, on average, travel longer distances from origin to destination countries than any of the other groups in this analysis, including Buddhists – who also mostly originate from Asia. Hindu migrants move an average of 3,100 miles from their country of origin, compared with an average of 2,200 miles among migrants overall,” the Pew study stated. “Many Hindu migrants live in the Asia-Pacific region (44%). The next most common destinations for Hindu migrants are the Middle East-North Africa region (24%) and North America (22%). About 8% of Hindu migrants live in Europe, and very few live in Latin America or sub-Saharan Africa.”
The Pew study says that while India is home to 94% of the world’s Hindus, it is the source of only 57% of the world’s Hindu migrants. Bangladesh – a majority Muslim country – is the second-most common origin of Hindu migrants. About 1.6 million Hindus born in Bangladesh now live elsewhere, accounting for 12% of all Hindu migrants. (Bangladesh was part of India before the 1947 Partition.) Nepal – whose large Hindu population is second only to India’s – is the third-most common source of Hindu migrants. About 1.5 million, or 11% of Hindu migrants, were born in Nepal. Pakistan, India’s Muslim-majority neighbor, is the fourth-most common birthplace of Hindu migrants. (Pakistan was part of British-controlled India before Partition.) Asia-Pacific is their most common region of origin, virtually all Hindu migrants (95%) were born in this area. Small shares of Hindu migrants come from sub-Saharan Africa (2%) and Europe (1%), and even fewer were born in Middle East-North Africa or the Americas. India, where Hindus form a religious majority, is the leading destination for Hindu migrants, 22% of Hindu migrants (3 million) have moved to India.
