More than six lakh Indians have given up their citizenship in the last five years – informed the Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai to the Lok Sabha responding to a question on November 30.
This statement was supported by the data available with the Ministry of External Affairs which states that a total number of 1,33,83,718 Indian nationals are currently residing in foreign countries.
| Year | People who gave up citizenship |
| 2017 | 1,33,049 |
| 1018 | 1,34,561 |
| 2019 | 1,44,017 |
| 2020 | 85,248 |
| 2021 (Till Sept) | 1,11,287 |
The data shows that 1,33,049 Indians gave up Indian citizenship in 2017, 1,34,561 in 2018, 1,44,017 in 2019, 85,248 in 2020 and 1,11,287 till September, 2021.
It is worthy to note that about 40 per cent of citizenship renunciation requests come from the United States, followed by about 30 per cent of such requests from Australia and Canada.
Countries with Indian population
As per the data by Ministry of External Affairs, here’s a list of countries with maximum number of Overseas Indians residing:
| Country | Overseas Indians |
| USA | 4460000 |
| South Africa | 1560000 |
| Canada | 1689055 |
| Sri Lanka | 1614000 |
| Saudi Arabia | 2594947 |
| UAE | 3425144 |
| Kuwait | 1029861 |
| Malaysia | 2987950 |
| Myanmar | 2009207 |
Probable reasons for Indians fleeing the country
Demographic and economic:
Due to India facing issues like poverty, unemployment, standard of living and lack of basic health and education facilities, many citizens choose to move abroad to experience a better lifestyle. Lack of population in other countries is one of the major reasons for better opportunities there.
Political :
Some Indians with strong political opposition of the present governance, might prefer moving to different country in order to get more political freedom and safety.
Cultural:
Although India is heading towards being a progressive nation, some minority communities still experience discrimination based on ethnicity or religion. These people might find moving abroad a better option to gain freedom from discrimination.
Passport Index Ranking:
India’s password rank is 69 as per the world passport index which implies – higher the passport index ranking, better the access they get to travel.
Seeking Achhe Din abroad.