Let us look at the numbers - Indians and International travel

According to the 2011 Census of India, the population of India is 1,21,08,54,977 (121 Crore or 1.2 Billion). In 2021, the US government Census website estimates the population of India to be 1.4 B (140 Crore). For simplicity, let's work with that number for the rest of this article.

In the Indian Governments' Ministry of External Affairs' Annual Report 2021-2022, more than 39.5 lakh (around 4 Million) Overseas Citizen of India cards have been issued since August 2005. (See "Consular, Passport and Visa services"). If we round that up to 40 lakhs, we're looking at roughly 0.3% of the total Indian population. Around 3 Indians in 1000 have an OCI card. In the report 2020-2021, 1.91 lakh (191,000) OCI cards were issued (See "Consular, Passport and Visa services").

In the same section of report, we also see that the Government of India issued more than 57.94 lakh passports (around 5.8 Million) and the Indian Missions/Posts abroad issued 9.94 lakh passports during the period April-November 2021. Adding them and rounding them up gives us 70 lakh (7 Million) passports, which is 0.5% of the total Indian population. In the report 2020-2021, it is reported that 68.26 lakh (around 7 Million) passport and passport-related documents were issued during 2020 and in the 2012-2013 report, it is reported that 59.40 lakh (around 6 Million) passports were issued during January-December 2012. Liberally speaking, if we assume an average of 60 lakh (6 Million) passports were issued by the Indian Government every year for the past 10 years, we're looking at a total of 6 Crore (60 Million) passports overall. That's around 4% of the Indian population. Around 4 Indians in 100 have an Indian Passport.

Now let's look at numbers on the other side. Let's look at the number of Nonimmigrant Visas issued by the US to Indians. According to a report by the US Department of State, between 5 lakh (500,000) and 10 lakh (1 Million) Nonimmigrant Visas were issued to Indians between 2012 and 2021, with a low of 2.7 lakh (276,506) in 2021. Liberally speaking, even if we assume that each of these Visas belong to a single Indian, we're looking at a total of around 78 lakh (7.8 Million) Indians who visited the US on a Nonimmigrant Visa between 2021 and 2021. Rounding that up to 80 lakhs (8 Million), we're looking at around 0.6% of the Indian population. Around 6 in 1000 Indians.

When we talk about Indians and International travel, let's keep these numbers in mind. When we're trying to form our world view based on what we're seeing on social media, let's keep these numbers in mind. When we're thinking of understanding who we are as Indians based on what we read about Indians abroad, let's keep these numbers in mind. When we're thinking of formulating public policy, let's keep these numbers in mind.

References

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