When it comes to how long they have already been living in their host country, expats from India are typically on par with global averages: the only slight difference is that a smaller share of Indians (21% vs. 24% across all nationalities) have been living abroad for more than ten years. The majority of Indian expats (53%) has been living abroad between six months and five years — a percentage similar to the worldwide average (50%).
Nevertheless, many Indians feel at home in their new country: 65% of Indians abroad agree that this is the case for them, and — compared to 15% of all expats — only 7% of Indians say they do not feel at home and don’t think they ever will.
Even more surprising is the percentage of Indians who are first-time expats: more than ten percentage points above the global average of 28%, 39% of Indian respondents have no prior expat experience. Among these first-time expats and also the more experienced ones, the trend seems to be to stay long but not forever. Nearly three in ten (29%) say they plan to stay longer than five years, which is ten percentage points more than the global average (19%). However, only 19% anticipate staying forever (vs. 32% globally).
In fact, 39% of Indian expats say it is very likely that they will return to India, compared to 31% of all respondents who say the same about their country of origin. These hopes of returning home are further emphasized in the mere 4% of Indians who have acquire their host country’s citizenship, compared to 13% of all respondents who’ve undergone naturalization.
About half of Indian expats (46%) say they did not really give any thought to language before moving abroad. Likewise, less than 5% say that language learning was a reason for their move abroad, compared to the 11% global average. Their rather carefree approach seems to be more or less successful: 30% agree completely that it is easy to live in their new country without speaking the local language, 13 percentage points above the average. This is a good thing, as 26% report not being able to speak the local language of their host country at all, which is double the survey average of 13%.
However, of those Indian expats who shared that they are not happy with their life abroad, 41% agree that struggling with the language barrier has contributed to this unhappiness, compared to only 25% globally.
A significant share of Indians seek jobs abroad on their own: 17% found a job on their own (vs. 12% of all respondents), next to 13% who were sent by their employer. Once abroad, they are most likely an employee (31% vs. 25% globally), manager (21% vs. 14%), or currently looking for work (9% vs. 8%). A higher-than-average share of Indian expats (7% vs. 5%) are also students (including PhD students). Retirees are, in contrast, few and far between (1% vs. 11%).
Among Indian managers, 68% work in middle management, compared to a global average of 53%. And among the working expats in general, IT and manufacturing & engineering top the list of fields of work at 24% and 12%, respectively — up to twice the survey average of 12% and 8%.
The vast majority of Indian expats (93%) also work full time (vs. 84% globally), though with 44.0 hours a week, they don’t spend more time at their full-time jobs than the survey average. More than three in five working Indian expats (64%) say that their income is higher than what it would be back home.
And lastly, with more than a ten-percentage-point difference to the global average of 41%, 54% of Indian expats hold a postgraduate degree — either a master’s degree or similar — next to 5% with a PhD. One in ten Indians originally even moved abroad to go to school or university (vs. 6% globally).
Out of the 73% of Indian expats in a relationship, 84% say their partner is of the same nationality, and a similar 82% met their partner in India. These values — percentages for partner’s nationality and place of meeting for expats in a relationship — are nearly double the global averages of 43% and 49%, respectively.
Indian expats do not always bring their partner abroad with them, though: 16% of those in a relationship are not currently living in the same country as their partner, compared to 12% of all respondents. But despite the possibility of a long-term relationship, 60% are still completely satisfied with their relationship, versus 52% globally.
The average age of an Indian expat is 36.4 years — nearly a full decade younger than the average respondent (44.2 years). Also unusually far off from the survey average is the gender ratio: 28% of Indian expats are female and 72% male (vs. 51% women and 49% men globally).
And apparently these younger male Indian expats have very few difficulties making friends, both local and international. More than half the Indians abroad (53%) describe their friend group as a fair mix of both expats and locals, though not many Indians have social circles composed solely of local residents (9% vs. 19% globally).
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When it comes to how long they have already been living in their host country, expats from India are typically on par with global averages: the only slight difference is that a smaller share of Indians (21% vs. 24% across all nationalities) have been living abroad for more than ten years. The majority of Indian expats (53%) has been living abroad between six months and five years — a percentage similar to the worldwide average (50%).
Nevertheless, many Indians feel at home in their new country: 65% of Indians abroad agree that this is the case for them, and — compared to 15% of all expats — only 7% of Indians say they do not feel at home and don’t think they ever will.
Even more surprising is the percentage of Indians who are first-time expats: more than ten percentage points above the global average of 28%, 39% of Indian respondents have no prior expat experience. Among these first-time expats and also the more experienced ones, the trend seems to be to stay long but not forever. Nearly three in ten (29%) say they plan to stay longer than five years, which is ten percentage points more than the global average (19%). However, only 19% anticipate staying forever (vs. 32% globally).
In fact, 39% of Indian expats say it is very likely that they will return to India, compared to 31% of all respondents who say the same about their country of origin. These hopes of returning home are further emphasized in the mere 4% of Indians who have acquire their host country’s citizenship, compared to 13% of all respondents who’ve undergone naturalization.
About half of Indian expats (46%) say they did not really give any thought to language before moving abroad. Likewise, less than 5% say that language learning was a reason for their move abroad, compared to the 11% global average. Their rather carefree approach seems to be more or less successful: 30% agree completely that it is easy to live in their new country without speaking the local language, 13 percentage points above the average. This is a good thing, as 26% report not being able to speak the local language of their host country at all, which is double the survey average of 13%.
However, of those Indian expats who shared that they are not happy with their life abroad, 41% agree that struggling with the language barrier has contributed to this unhappiness, compared to only 25% globally.
A significant share of Indians seek jobs abroad on their own: 17% found a job on their own (vs. 12% of all respondents), next to 13% who were sent by their employer. Once abroad, they are most likely an employee (31% vs. 25% globally), manager (21% vs. 14%), or currently looking for work (9% vs. 8%). A higher-than-average share of Indian expats (7% vs. 5%) are also students (including PhD students). Retirees are, in contrast, few and far between (1% vs. 11%).
Among Indian managers, 68% work in middle management, compared to a global average of 53%. And among the working expats in general, IT and manufacturing & engineering top the list of fields of work at 24% and 12%, respectively — up to twice the survey average of 12% and 8%.
The vast majority of Indian expats (93%) also work full time (vs. 84% globally), though with 44.0 hours a week, they don’t spend more time at their full-time jobs than the survey average. More than three in five working Indian expats (64%) say that their income is higher than what it would be back home.
And lastly, with more than a ten-percentage-point difference to the global average of 41%, 54% of Indian expats hold a postgraduate degree — either a master’s degree or similar — next to 5% with a PhD. One in ten Indians originally even moved abroad to go to school or university (vs. 6% globally).
Out of the 73% of Indian expats in a relationship, 84% say their partner is of the same nationality, and a similar 82% met their partner in India. These values — percentages for partner’s nationality and place of meeting for expats in a relationship — are nearly double the global averages of 43% and 49%, respectively.
Indian expats do not always bring their partner abroad with them, though: 16% of those in a relationship are not currently living in the same country as their partner, compared to 12% of all respondents. But despite the possibility of a long-term relationship, 60% are still completely satisfied with their relationship, versus 52% globally.
The average age of an Indian expat is 36.4 years — nearly a full decade younger than the average respondent (44.2 years). Also unusually far off from the survey average is the gender ratio: 28% of Indian expats are female and 72% male (vs. 51% women and 49% men globally).
And apparently these younger male Indian expats have very few difficulties making friends, both local and international. More than half the Indians abroad (53%) describe their friend group as a fair mix of both expats and locals, though not many Indians have social circles composed solely of local residents (9% vs. 19% globally).
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