Nearly 900,000 Indians renounced citizenship in past five years
Nearly 900,000 Indians have given up their citizenship in the last five years, official government data presented to Parliament shows, highlighting a sustained rise in the number of people opting to become foreign nationals.
Figures submitted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to the Rajya Sabha reveal that more than two million Indians have renounced their citizenship over the past 14 years, with annual totals generally climbing in recent times. The data, shared by Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, provides a year-by-year account of citizenship surrenders from 2011 to 2024.
According to the records, 1,189,194 Indians relinquished their citizenship between 2011 and 2019, with yearly numbers mostly staying above 120,000. The figure rose steadily through the decade and reached 144,017 in 2019, reflecting a growing trend of overseas migration and naturalisation abroad.
The pattern was briefly disrupted in 2020, when renunciations fell to 85,256 amid global travel bans, visa delays and administrative slowdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As international movement resumed, the numbers rebounded sharply, rising to 163,370 in 2021 and surging to a record 225,620 in 2022.
High levels of renunciation continued in the following years, with more than 200,000 Indians surrendering their citizenship in both 2023 and 2024, indicating that the post-pandemic recovery also accelerated long-term migration trends.
While the government does not specify individual reasons for renouncing citizenship, such decisions are commonly linked to long-term residence abroad, employment opportunities, family settlement and the acquisition of foreign nationality, particularly in countries that do not permit dual citizenship with India.
The MEA compiles and publishes these figures annually as part of its statutory reporting to Parliament, providing an official snapshot of changing citizenship patterns among Indians over time.
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