Family and Society · Sub-pillar 7.5
Migration and the diaspora
The movement from villages to cities and its effect on families, the brain drain of talent abroad, and the ties Indians overseas keep with the country.
What is migration and the diaspora?
Migration and the diaspora is sub-pillar 7.5 of the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047, the fifth of six sub-pillars under the Family and Society pillar. It asks about the movement from villages to cities and what it does to the families who move and those who stay, about talent leaving the country, and about the ties that Indians overseas keep with India.
Why it matters for 2047
Development is, in large part, the story of people moving: from farm to factory, village to city, one state to another, and sometimes abroad. India's version of that story is unusual. Most of its migration is women moving for marriage, most workers who move do so within their own state, and tens of millions circulate between village and city without ever fully leaving either. How that movement is managed decides whether cities grow well and villages decline gracefully.
Migration splits families. The man who works in a city and sends money home, the children raised by grandparents, the elderly left in the village: these are the private costs of a national transformation, and they rarely appear in the statistics that celebrate it.
India has the largest diaspora in the world and receives more money from it than any other country. Its talent abroad is both a loss and an asset: a loss when the brightest leave for good, an asset when they return, invest, advise and open doors. A developed Bharat would be one that people leave by choice and return to by choice.
Where India stands
- 28.9%
of Indians were migrants, having moved from their last usual place of residence, in 2020-21: 47.9% of women and 10.7% of men. Just over 71% had moved for marriage, under 10% for work, and 18.9% of moves were from village to city, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey's migration report. Census 2011 counted 45.6 crore migrants.[1]
- 3.73 crore
overseas Indians were counted by the Ministry of External Affairs in January 2026, 1.78 crore Indian citizens abroad and 1.95 crore people of Indian origin, the largest diaspora in the world; the United States (60.8 lakh), the UAE (43.4 lakh) and Canada (32.5 lakh) hold the most.[2]
- US$135.46 billion
was remitted to India by Indians abroad in 2024-25, a record and 14% more than the year before, according to Reserve Bank of India data; India has been the world's largest recipient of remittances for years, far ahead of Mexico and China.[3]
- 1.85 crore
Indians were working abroad in 2024, nearly three times the 66 lakh of 1990, about half of them in the Gulf countries; India's share of the world's migrants rose from 4.3% to over 6% over that period.[3]
India's diaspora is a national strength few countries can match. Nearly four crore people of Indian origin live abroad, they send home more than any other diaspora on earth, and the money arrives steadily through recessions and pandemics alike. [2][3] Within India, migration has lifted millions out of farm work and into cities, towns and construction sites across the country. [1]
The costs fall on families and on the places left behind. Most migration is still women moving to their husbands' homes rather than people moving to opportunity; workers who do move often leave children and parents behind; and the villages of the poorer states export their young and keep their old. [1] India has no reliable count of its internal migrants between censuses, and the 2021 Census was delayed, so the country manages one of the largest movements of people in history largely without current data. [1]
A note on the numbers: the migration rate comes from a one-off PLFS module in 2020-21, during the pandemic, and counts anyone whose current residence differs from their last usual one, so it includes marriage migration and excludes short-term circular migrants; the diaspora count combines Indian citizens with people of Indian origin and relies on host-country estimates of varying quality; remittances are RBI balance-of-payments data and include transfers by Indians who work abroad temporarily; there is no official measure of the 'brain drain', and 47 BH will add one, such as the share of Indian graduates abroad, when a credible estimate exists.
On the 47 BH report card
Every 15 August, 47 BH reports how far India has come on each sub-pillar. For this sub-pillar, the headline indicators are:
- Internal migrants as a share of population, by reason and direction (Census; PLFS).
- Overseas Indian population (Ministry of External Affairs).
- Remittances received (Reserve Bank of India).
- Indians working abroad and a measure of skilled emigration (UN migration data; to be sourced).
Two lenses on migration and the diaspora
City and village
47 BH asks whether the city that depends on migrants for its construction, its deliveries and its domestic work gives them a vote, a ration card, a school for their children and a decent room to live in. Most of India's circular migrants remain registered, and counted, in the village they left; the city they build does not see them.
Learn, avoid, protect
- Learn
- What can India learn from countries that made social benefits portable so a worker could move without losing them, that counted their migrants well enough to plan for them, and that turned their diaspora into investors and ambassadors rather than only remitters?
- Avoid
- Which mistakes should it avoid, such as building cities for the people already in them rather than those arriving, letting the brightest leave because the institutions at home could not use them, or mistaking remittances for development in the villages that receive them?
- Protect
- What of its own should it protect, such as the ties that keep a diaspora of four crore sending money and coming home for weddings and festivals, the village as a place migrants can return to, and the family networks that make migration survivable for those who move and those who stay?
What this sub-pillar does not cover
Each topic has one home in the framework. These related topics sit elsewhere:
- How cities and towns grow and are governed: Economy: Cities, towns and villages
- Housing for migrants and the cost of living: Economy: Housing and cost of living
- Universities and the research talent that leaves: Learning: Higher education and research
- Families separated by migration and elders left behind: Family and Society: Family, children and elders
- Indian culture and languages abroad: Family and Society: Culture, heritage and languages
Questions about migration and the diaspora
How many Indians are migrants?
28.9% of the population in 2020-21 had moved from their last usual residence, 47.9% of women and 10.7% of men; just over 71% moved for marriage and under 10% for work, according to the PLFS migration report. Census 2011 counted 45.6 crore migrants. [1]
How big is the Indian diaspora?
3.73 crore people as of January 2026, including 1.78 crore Indian citizens abroad and 1.95 crore people of Indian origin, according to the Ministry of External Affairs; the largest communities are in the United States, the UAE and Canada. [2]
How much money do Indians abroad send home?
US$135.46 billion in 2024-25, a record and 14% more than the year before, according to Reserve Bank of India data; India is the world's largest recipient of remittances. [3]
How many Indians work abroad?
About 1.85 crore in 2024, nearly three times the 66 lakh of 1990, with about half in the Gulf countries. [3]
Why is migration a development question?
Because development is movement, of people from farms to cities and from poorer places to richer ones, and because how a country manages that movement decides whether its cities work, its villages survive and its families stay whole.
Sources
- Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, "Migration in India 2020-21", Periodic Labour Force Survey report, June 2022; key figures as summarised by Factly. https://factly.in/data-plfs-migration-report-indicates-that-more-than-70-in-india-migrate-due-to-marriage
- Ministry of External Affairs, "Population of Overseas Indians", country-wise table dated January 2026. https://www.mea.gov.in/population-of-overseas-indians
- Reserve Bank of India remittance data for 2024-25 and UN migration figures, as reported by News On AIR, 1 July 2025. https://www.newsonair.gov.in/remittances-by-indians-working-abroad-scale-record-high-of-135-billion-in-fy25/
47 BH cites every figure so that it can be checked. If you find an error, it will be corrected openly and the date below will change.