NEW DELHI: A report titled ‘International Migration 2020 Highlights’ by United Nations Organisation (UNO) states that India has the highest diaspora population in the world with almost 18 million people living outside their homeland. The report was released on Friday, January 15 by Population division of UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). It mentioned that other countries with highest diaspora include Mexico (11 million) and Syria (8 million).
The report mentioned that the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United States of America (USA) and Saudi Arabia contains the highest number of migrants from India. Other countries which host Indian diaspora include Australia, Canada, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Kingdom (UK). It added that between 2000 and 2020, the number of population migrating to other countries grew for almost all the countries and areas of the world. The US holds the top position in countries with highest international migrants (51 million) in 2020 which is equal to 18 per cent of the world’s total number.
Germany hosts the second highest population of international migrants with 16 million, followed by Saudi Arabia (13 million), Russia (12 million), and the United Kingdom (9 million). The report states that the COVID-19 pandemic this year has disturbed all forms of human mobility due to closing of borders and ban on travel. International migrants represent about 3.6 per cent of the total world’s population. The report added that Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the USA gained the largest number of international migrants between 2000 and 2020. On the other hand, around 53 countries showed a decline in influx of international migrants between this period.