India tops list of foreign citizenship at 1.30 lakh in 2015, says International Migration Outlook report

1.30 lakh people of Indian origin acquired the citizenship of foreign nations in 2015, taking India to the top spot in the list of origin countries of naturalised citizens across the world. The 1.30 lakh people who acquired citizenship of OECD member countries comprised largely of expatriates on work visas.

This has been found by an International Migration Outlook (2017) report released by Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (Oecd) in Paris on Thursday.

The study indicated that the Indian diaspora is not hesitant of acquiring foreign citizenship. India was followed by Mexico at 1.12 lakh and the Philippines at 94,000, while China was at fifth spot with 78,000.

In 2015, just over 20 lakh people acquired the nationality of an OECD country, the report said. This was just 3 per cent above the figure in 2014. However, it remains within the OECD average of the past 10 years.

OECD, a global thinktank, comprises of 35 countries including European countries, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. A previous OECD report had revealed that India had the largest diaspora in the world with 156 lakh migrants.

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"Improving the integration of immigrants and their children, including refugees, is vital to delivering a more prosperous, inclusive future for all," said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria in the report.

In terms of new immigrants to OECD countries, China retained the top spot, while the refugee crisis resulted in a large influx of immigrants from Syria. This pushed India down one spot to the fifth position.

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