Ethnic group
The community of Indians in Germany includes Indian expatriates residing in Germany, as well as German citizens of Indian origin or descent. In 2009, the German government estimated that the number of people of Indian descent residing in Germany at 110,204, of which 43,175 people were holding an Indian passport, while 67,029 were holding a German passport.[2] In 2022 the number stood at about 247,000 of Indian descent of which 198,000 had a migration background.[3] According to the Federal Statistical Office the number of nationals from India is the second largest in Germany from either South, South East, East or Central Asia, only below the number of nationals from Afghanistan.[4]
History
Small numbers of Indian students resided in Germany before and during the Second World War. In early to late 1960s and 1970s, many Malayali Catholic women from Kerala were recruited by the German Catholic institutions to work as nurses in German hospitals.[5] According to the documentary ‘Translated lives’, around 5,000 women migrated from Kerala during the 1960s and 70s to become nurses there.[6]
Since the 2010s, the Indian population also grow in former East Germany due to Indian students who study mostly in technical universities. Unlike other minorities, there are many Indians in cities like Chemnitz and Leipzig and the state of Saxony has the largest population of federal state in former East Germany with about 9,000 Indians.
| Number of Indians in larger cities
|
| # |
City |
People
|
| 1. |
Berlin |
13,450
|
| 2. |
Munich |
11,228
|
| 3. |
Frankfurt |
7,412
|
| 4. |
Hamburg |
6,100
|
| 5. |
Stuttgart |
3,624
|
| 6. |
Bonn |
2,216
|
| 7. |
Aachen |
1,925
|
| 8. |
Cologne |
1,607
|
| 9. |
Essen |
1,563
|
| 10. |
Mannheim |
1,541
|
Modern era
Germany has become a popular destination for higher learning, and of the total student population in Germany about 12% are International students.[7] Hundreds of schools in India have signed up to teach students German as their primary foreign language as part of an effort by Germany's top technical colleges to attract more Indian students.[8] As a result, there has been a steady increase in the Indian student population in Germany which has quadrupled in 7 years since 2008.[9][10] Of these, more than 80% Indian students pursue their studies or research in the STEM fields i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.[11]
| Academic year
|
No. of Indian students enrolled in German universities
|
| 2008-09
|
3,516[9]
|
| 2011-12
|
5,998[10]
|
| 2012-13
|
7,532[9]
|
| 2013-14
|
10,000[12]
|
| 2014-15
|
11,860[11]
|
| 2015-16
|
13,740[10]
|
| 2017-18
|
17,570[13]
|
| 2018-19
|
20,810[14]
|
| 2019-20
|
25,149[15]
|
| 2020-21
|
28,905[16]
|
| 2021-22
|
34,134[16]
|
| 2022-23
|
42,997[16]
|
