Indian Students Studying Abroad
India has the largest diaspora in the world & as per the Ministry of External Affairs, there are 3.2 Crores or 32 million Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) residing outside India.
As per the Ministry of External Affairs report, as of the end of January 2021, there were more than 11.33 lakh Indian students studying in as many as 99 countries. Of these, most of them were in Canada and the US, followed by the Gulf countries, Australia, and the UK, while there were 23,000 in China. Germany, Ukraine, Russia, and France have more than 10,000 students.
Asian countries account for nearly 5.25 lakh of Indian students. More than 40% ( 4.5 lakh) of Indian students study in North America. Australia & Newzealand account for 1.25 Lakh students. Though Indian students are in 32 different countries in Europe, they only make up 1.5 lakh Indian students studying abroad on continents
Out of the 99 countries, 30countries have less than 100 Indian students each while 33 other countries have between 100 and 1000 students. Only 15 countries have more than 10000 students each while 15 other countries have between 10000 and above students.
read about the Population of Overseas Indians
Source: MEA data table in Rajya Sabha
Indian Students in Foreign Countries
In the five years before 2021, nearly 22 lakh Indian students and nearly a quarter of them were from just Andhra Pradesh and Punjab together. In fact, just six states -Andhra, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka – together account for 56% of all students going abroad.
As per the Ministry of External Affairs report, as of the end of January 2021, there were more than 11 lakh Indian students studying in as many as 99 countries.
The country-wise number of Indian students currently studying in foreign countries
| # | Countries | Students |
| 1 | United Arab emirates | 219,000 |
| 2 | Canada | 215,720 |
| 3 | USA | 211,930 |
| 4 | Australia | 92,383 |
| 5 | Saudi Arabia | 80,800 |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 55,465 |
| 7 | Oman | 43,600 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 30,000 |
| 9 | China | 23,000 |
| 10 | Germany | 20,810 |
| 11 | Ukraine | 18,000 |
| 12 | Russia Federation | 16,500 |
| 13 | Philippines | 15,000 |
| 14 | France | 10,000 |
| 15 | Kyrgyzstan | 10,000 |
| 16 | Georgia | 7,500 |
| 17 | Kazakhstan | 5,300 |
| 18 | Bangladesh | 5,200 |
| 19 | Ireland | 5,000 |
| 20 | Italy | 4,634 |
| 21 | Poland | 4,000 |
| 22 | Cyprus | 3,007 |
| 23 | Armenia | 3,000 |
| 24 | Nepal | 2,200 |
| 25 | Malaysia | 2,000 |
| 26 | Sweden | 2,000 |
| 27 | Latvia | 1,850 |
| 28 | Switzerland | 1,850 |
| 29 | Iran | 1,700 |
| 30 | Japan | 1,694 |
| 31 | Singapore | 1,500 |
| 32 | Spain | 1,500 |
| 33 | Netherlands | 1,469 |
| 34 | Tajikistan | 1,199 |
| 35 | Finland | 1,051 |
| 36 | Hong Kong | 916 |
| 37 | Belarus | 906 |
| 38 | Mauritius | 807 |
| 39 | Lithuania | 800 |
| 40 | Belgium | 764 |
| 41 | Romania | 700 |
| 42 | Czech Republic | 658 |
| 43 | Republic of Korea | 592 |
| 44 | Israel | 550 |
| 45 | Norway | 480 |
| 46 | Malta | 434 |
| 47 | South Africa | 434 |
| 48 | Hungary | 419 |
| 49 | Portugal | 415 |
| 50 | Denmark | 369 |
| 51 | Bulgaria | 357 |
| 52 | Egypt | 356 |
| 53 | Austria | 350 |
| 54 | Thailand | 297 |
| 55 | Moldova | 262 |
| 56 | Estonia | 257 |
| 57 | Kenya | 254 |
| 58 | Pakistan | 230 |
| 59 | Venezuela | 229 |
| 60 | St. Lucida | 211 |
| 61 | Guyana | 184 |
| 62 | Kuwait | 178 |
| 63 | Mexico | 150 |
| 64 | Qatar | 150 |
| 65 | Taiwan | 150 |
| 66 | Jamaica | 125 |
| 67 | Azerbaijan | 123 |
| 68 | Panama | 109 |
| 69 | Barbados | 86 |
| 70 | Trinidad & Tobago | 81 |
| 71 | Luxembourg | 80 |
| 72 | Slovakia | 70 |
| 73 | St. Vincent | 59 |
| 74 | Uzbekistan | 50 |
| 75 | Turkey | 48 |
| 76 | Antigua & Barbuda | 40 |
| 77 | Slovenia | 36 |
| 78 | Iceland | 17 |
| 79 | St. Kitts | 10 |
| 80 | Sudan | 10 |
| 81 | Brunei | 9 |
| 82 | Zagreb | 9 |
| 83 | Indonesia | 8 |
| 84 | Greece | 7 |
| 85 | Sri Lanka | 7 |
| 86 | Cuba | 6 |
| 87 | Yemen | 6 |
| 88 | Lebanon | 5 |
| 89 | Belgrade | 4 |
| 90 | Bhutan | 4 |
| 91 | Brazil | 4 |
| 92 | Reunion | 3 |
| 93 | Beirut | 2 |
| 94 | Jordan | 2 |
| 95 | Mozambique | 2 |
| 96 | St. Denies | 2 |
| 97 | Tanzania | 2 |
| 98 | Serbia | 1 |
| 99 | Vietnam | 1 |
| Total | 1,133,749 |
Source: MEA data