How many Indians are there in the GCC countries? For a long time, this was largely resigned to speculation. Different government agencies put out conflicting and contradicting numbers.
At times, the Ministry of External Affairs, the now-defunct Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, and the Prime Minister’s Office put out different numbers about the presence of a large Indian expatriate community in the Gulf Arab countries.
Things are changing, and in recent years, the government has been able and willing to identify the number of Indians in different parts of the world—including the wider Middle East.
Answering a parliamentary question last month, Minister of State for MEA Kirti Vardhan Singh informed the Rajya Sabha that as of January, there were 3,43,56,193 Indians abroad.
This number includes 1,71,81,071 identified as Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and 1,71,75,122 classified as Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
Though the numbers are equally divided, the Middle East presents an interesting detail: that there are more NRIs in the region than PIOs.
Out of the 96,79,121 Indians in the Middle East, only 1,02,166 are identified as PIOs, indicating that the number of Indians who are citizens of these countries is relatively small.
Moreover, out of the 1,71,75,122 NRIs, as many as 95,76,955—representing 55.76 per cent of the global NRIs—reside in the Middle East.
A closer look at the numbers indicates an interesting picture.
1) With 53 lakh PIOs and NRIs, the United States has the largest Indian community outside India.
2) With 38,97,567, the United Arab Emirates hosts the second-largest overseas Indian community.
3) Surprisingly, Canada (36,11,290) and Malaysia (29,35,000) host more Indians than Saudi Arabia (27,47,551).
4) The size of the Indian community in GCC countries stands at 94,94,835. Out of this, the UAE hosts more than 30 lakh Indians, Saudi Arabia over 30 lakhs, Kuwait over 1 lakh. Qatar and Oman host over 5 lakhs, while Bahrain has the smallest number in the GCC.
5) Nearly 70 per cent of the Indians in Israel are PIOs, indicating the familial connections between the people of these two countries. In that regard, despite the prolonged conflict—which has intensified since October 7—Israel hosts 1,23,000 Indians.
6) Civil war situations and internal turmoil in some countries have not prevented Indians from seeking a fortune overseas. As of January 2025—prior to the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict in June—Iran had over ten thousand Indians, most of them being religious pilgrims and students.
7) Iraq, which is slowly limping towards normalcy after decades of internal turmoil, has over 17,000 Indians, while resource-scarce Jordan is home to over 16,000 Indians.
8) War-ravaged Yemen and Libya also host a significant number of Indians. Notably, India closed down its diplomatic missions in these countries on April 2015 and April 2019, respectively. The presence of a significant number of Indians in these countries poses a severe security and domestic pressure whenever Indians are harmed, kidnapped or killed. The government's advisory against travel to war-torn countries has not been effective.
9) At the larger level, these numbers not only give us a better view of the ground reality and diversity, but also enable the government and various agencies to make contingency preparations during emergencies.
10) Obtaining better—not to mention accurate—numbers is the first step towards better governance and policy-making. Indeed, we are making some headway when it comes to migration, especially to the Gulf Arab countries.
Source: Rajya Sabha, Unstarred Question No-3277, 21 August 2025
The author teaches contemporary Middle East at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.