India, migrations according to religious faith: 80% of people are Hindu, but only 41% emigrate, while those who leave are mostly Muslims

ROMA – The religious composition of Indians who emigrate – according to an analysis of Pew Research Centerun, broadcast by the BBC, with a report by correspondent Soutik Biswas – differs significantly from that of those who remain in India. Eighty percent of the people in the subcontinent are Hindu, but they represent only 41 percent of those who emigrated from the country. In contrast, about 15 percent of people living in India are Muslim, compared to 33 percent of those born in India who now live elsewhere. Christians make up only about 2 percent of the Indian population, but 16 percent of those who left India are Christians.

Migrants of other religions. In short: many more Muslims and Christians have left India than have moved there. Even people of other, smaller religions, such as Sikhs and Jains, are very likely to have to leave India. This is the summary of Stephanie Kramer, one of the authors of this very interesting analysis, which highlights how over 280 million people, or 3.6% of the world’s population, are now international migrants.

The state of affairs in 2020. In 2020, Christians made up 47% of the global migrant population, Muslims 29%, Hindus 5%, Buddhists 4% and Jews 1%, according to the analysis of United Nations data and 270 censuses and surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center. The unaffiliated with any religion, including atheists and agnostics, made up 13% of global migrants who left their country of birth.

Hindus tend not to leave. For India, the analysis found that the religious composition of the population that has moved to India is much more similar to that of the country’s overall population. Hindus are also significantly underrepresented among international migrants (5%) compared to their share of the global population (15%). There are about a billion Hindus worldwide. “This appears to be because Hindus are so concentrated in India and people born in India are unlikely to leave,” Ms. Kramer said. “More people born in India live elsewhere than those from any other country of origin, but these millions of migrants represent a small fraction of India’s population.”

The different factors that push people to emigrate. About 99 percent of Hindus lived in Asia in 2010, almost entirely in India and Nepal, and researchers say they wouldn’t expect that share to decline much, if at all. India didn’t experience a mass migration event after partition, and many of those who emigrated then are no longer alive. “In contrast, other religious groups are more globally dispersed and face more push factors to emigrate,” Kramer said.

So are Hindus something of a global anomaly in this sense? The researchers say Hindus stand out from the other religious groups they studied.

If Hindus emigrate, they go further. The analysis found that Hindus have the longest average migration distance of 4,988 km (3,100 miles), often moving from India to faraway places such as the United States and the United Kingdom. The researchers attribute this to the lack of recent crises forcing Hindus to flee to neighboring countries. Instead, most are economic migrants seeking employment opportunities, often in faraway places.

The situation in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan. Hindus are overrepresented among emigrants from Bangladesh, the survey found. The study estimates that less than 10 percent of Bangladesh residents are Hindu, but 21 percent of people who have left Bangladesh are Hindu. About 90 percent of people living in Bangladesh are Muslim, but 67 percent of emigrants from Bangladesh are Muslim. Hindus make up only about 2 percent of Pakistan’s population, and 8 percent of people born in Pakistan who now live elsewhere are Hindu. Myanmar has a lower percentage of Muslims in its resident population than in its emigrant population. Muslims make up about 4 percent of Myanmar’s resident population and 36 percent of its emigrant population.

The call of religious affinities. Ultimately, it turns out, Stephanie Kramer points out, “people often go to places where their religion is common, and those who belong to minority religious groups within their country of birth are more likely to leave.”