India Second Largest Source of Migrants after Mexico

The pattern in migration by religion, suggested globally, the top country of origin for Christian migrants is Mexico (more than 12 million). While it was noted that other major sources of Christian migrants are from countries like Russia (more than 8 million) and Ukraine (about 5 million), which is mostly due to changing international borders following the collapse of the Soviet Union. United Kingdom and the Philippines also have millions of Christian emigrants.

The report suggested that the largest share of the world’s Muslim migrants is Palestinian in origin (more than 5 million), followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh and India (more than 3 million each). The chief sources of Jewish migrants are Russia (more than 700,000) and Ukraine (290,000). The top country of origin for Buddhist migrants is Vietnam which is followed closely by China. Hindu migrants come significantly from India (more than 5 million). It was noted that China has been the largest source of migrants belonging to other religions (2 million) and is the primary country of origin for migrants who are religiously unaffiliated (4 million).

Adherents of all other faiths like Sikhs, Jains, Taoists, Chinese folk religions, African traditional religions and many smaller groups, collectively account for an estimated 9 million migrants (4 percent). Migrants more than 19 million (9 percent) is unaffiliated, falling under the category of atheists, agnostics and people who say they have no particular religion.