India has released new data on the number of Indians living abroad, and the USA, Canada and the UK are all in the top 10 countries with the largest overseas Indian populations.
The figures are from the Ministry of External Affairs’ Indian Diaspora Abroad dataset, which states there are 37,280,845 “persons of Indian origin” and “non-resident Indians” in more than 200 other countries.
According to the data, which is for January 2026 but updated late last month, the USA has the largest overseas Indian population with 6.08 million, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 4.34 million, and Canada with 3.25 million.
The UK has the ninth largest overseas Indian population, with 1.28 million, and Australia is 12th with 845,000, although India’s data does not match the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The ABS said in April the Indian-born population of Australia was 971,020 as of June 30 last year, and in 2024 it was estimated there were another 200,971 people born in Australia with Indian ancestry, and 113,947 who were born in other countries but have Indian ancestry.
The Indian government data shows that Mauritius (891,000), Trinidad and Tobago (701,000) and Guyana (324,000) have the highest proportions of overseas Indians relative to their total population – 71.9%, 46.7% and 39% respectively.
Malaysia (2.9 million – 8%) and Saudi Arabia (2.75 million – 7.8%) are also in the top 10, along with Myanmar (2 million – 3.6%), South Africa (1.8 million – 2.7%), Sri Lanka (1.6 million – 6.9%) and Kuwait (1.03 million – 21.2%).
New Zealand is home to 300,000 overseas Indians, making up 5.7% of the population.
Pakistan was recorded as having “nil” overseas Indians, neighbouring Bangladesh had just 8,560, and Cuba and Syria both had zero, according to the official data.
Header image: A Sikh event in Surrey, Canada, in April (South Fraser Search and Rescue – Facebook).
