Indians in Germany

Indians in Germany

Distribution of Indian citizens in Germany (2021)
Total population
301,000 [1] 0.36% of the German Population
Regions with significant populations
Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Rhein-Ruhr, Rhein-Neckar, Braunschweig, Nuremberg, Leipzig
Languages
German, English, Hindi, other Indian languages
Related ethnic groups
Indian diaspora

The Indian community 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 2024 the number stood at about 301,000 of Indian descent of which 249,000 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 grew 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 (foreigners) in larger cities
#	City	People	Notes
1.	Berlin	45,189	As of June 2025 [7]
2.	Munich	17,549	As of April 2025 [8]
3.	Frankfurt	11,393	As of December 2024 [9]
4.	Hamburg	9,864	As of December 2024 [10]
5.	Stuttgart	6,111	As of December 2024 [11]
6.	Düsseldorf	6,244	As of December 2024 [12]
7.	Erlangen	4,170	As of December 2023 [13]
8.	Cologne	3,639	As of December 2023 [14]
9.	Aachen	3,622	As of July 2024 [15]
10.	Braunschweig	3,273	As of December 2024 [16]
11.	Essen	3,252	As of December 2024 [17]
12.	Mannheim	3,018	As of December 2023 [18]
13.	Bonn	2,459	As of December 2022 [19]
14.	Dresden	2,408	As of December 2023 [20]
15.	Karlsruhe	2,347	As of December 2023
16.	Nuremberg	2,122	As of July 2024

Number of people of Indian origin in German States
#	State	People	Notes
1.	Bavaria	58,435	As of December 2024, only Indian citizens [21]
2.	North Rhine-Westphalia	45,030	As of December 2024, only Indian citizens [22]
3.	Berlin	45,002	As of December 2024, Indians and Germans of Indian origin [23]
4.	Baden-Württemberg	42,410	As of December 2024, only Indian citizens [24]
5.	Hesse	31,385	As of December 2024, only Indian citizens [25]
6.	Lower Saxony	13,260	As of December 2024, only Indian citizens [26]
6.	Hamburg	12,353	As of December 2023, Indians and Germans of Indian origin [27]

Modern era

Germany has become a popular destination for higher learning, and of the total student population in Germany about 12% are International students. ^[28] 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. ^[29] As a result, there has been a steady increase in the Indian student population in Germany which has quadrupled in 7 years since 2008. ^{[30] [31]}

Academic year	No. of Indian students enrolled in German universities
2008–09	3,516 [30]
2011–12	5,998 [31]
2012–13	7,532 [30]
2013–14	10,000 [32]
2014–15	11,860 [33]
2015–16	13,740 [31]
2017–18	17,570 [34]
2018–19	20,810 [35]
2019–20	25,149 [36]
2020–21	28,905 [37]
2021–22	34,134 [37]
2022–23	42,997 [37]
2023–24	49,483 [38]
2024-25	60,000 [39]

Notable people

• Anita Bose Pfaff, economist, daughter of Subhas Chandra Bose
• Atul Chitnis, consulting technologist
• Anuradha Doddaballapur, Germany National Women's cricket Team captain
• Aditya Kripalani Filmmaker
• Ayesha Kapur, actress
• Ashok-Alexander Sridharan, Ex-Mayor of Bonn
• Collien Fernandes, media person
• Dhruv Rathee, YouTuber
• Evelyn Sharma, Bollywood actress
• Gujjula Ravindra Reddy, member of the state parliament of Brandenburg and former mayor of Altlandsberg (Social Democratic Party)
• Indira Weis, singer
• Irshad Panjatan, Berlin-based actor and mime artist of Indian descent
• Judith Lefeber, singer
• Josef Winkler, member of the German parliament (Alliance '90/The Greens)
• Joybrato Mukherjee, Professor of English Linguistics and the President of the University of Giessen.Youngest university president ever appointed in Germany. President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
• Karthika Vijayaraghavan, Germany National Women's cricketer
• Manjou Wilde, footballer
• Mink Brar, actress
• Kamala Reddy, Hindu guru
• Rahul Peter Das, South Asianist (Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg) and President of the German Association for Asian Studies
• Rajesh Saraiya, steel plant owner
• Robin Dutt, football club manager
• Shanta Ghosh, sprinter
• Sharanya Sadarangani, Germany National Women's cricketer
• Sandeep Bhagwati, composer
• Sebastian Edathy, member of the German parliament (Social Democratic Party)
• Subrata K. Mitra, political scientist (Heidelberg University, retired)
• Sabrina Setlur, singer and ex-girlfriend of Boris Becker
• Shweta Shetty, singer
• Tino Sehgal, Berlin-based artist of Indian and British descent
• Xavier Naidoo, singer

See also

• India portal
• Germany portal

• Germany–India relations
• Indians in Sweden
• Pakistanis in Germany
• Pakistanis in Sweden
• Tamil Germans

References

1. "Population in private households according to migration background in the broader sense according to selected countries of birth". DeStatis (Federal Office of Statistics). Retrieved 8 October 2024.
2. Bundesamt für Flüchtlinge und Migration, Dr. habil. Sonja Haug Stephanie Müssig, M.A. Dr. Anja Stichs (Hrsg): Muslimisches Leben in Deutschland, 2009: page 76, chart 5
3. "Bevölkerung in Privathaushalten nach Migrationshintergrund im weiteren Sinn nach ausgewählten Geburtsstaaten". Statistisches Bundesamt.
4. "Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit Ausländische Bevölkerung Ergebnisse des Ausländerzentralregisters" (PDF). www.destatis.de. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2021.
5. Goel, Urmila (2008), "The Seventieth Anniversary of 'John Matthew': On 'Indian' Christians in Germany", in Jacobsen, Knut A.; Raj, Selva J. (eds.), South Asian Christian Diaspora: Invisible Diaspora in Europe and North America, Ashgate Publishing, p. 57, ISBN   978-0-7546-6261-7
6. "A Kerala touch to German nursing". The Hindu. 5 March 2014.
7. "Statistischer Bericht A I 5 – hj 1 / 25 Einwohnerregisterstatistik Berlin 30. Juni 2025" (PDF). Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg. 1 March 2025. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
8. "Monatszahlen-Monitoring München" . Retrieved 1 October 2024.
9. "Asiatische und australische Staatsangehörigkeiten" . Retrieved 16 June 2025.
10. "Ausländische Bevölkerung in Hamburg am 31.12.2024" (PDF). Retrieved 16 June 2025.
11. "Ausländer in Stuttgart seit 1995 nach Staatsangehörigkeit und Altersgruppen" . Retrieved 16 June 2025.
12. "Ausländer*innen nach bevölkerungsstärksten Nationen aus dem Einwohnermelderegister" . Retrieved 16 June 2025.
13. "Herkunft der Ausländer*innen in Erlangen am 31.12.2023" . Retrieved 8 October 2024.
14. "Statistisches Jahrbuch 2023" (PDF). Retrieved 1 October 2024.
15. "Melderegisterauswertung Stand 30.06.2024" (PDF). Retrieved 8 October 2024.
16. "Bevölkerung mit erweitertem Migrationshintergrund in Braunschweig" [Population with an extended migration background in Braunschweig](PDF) (in German). 31 December 2024. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 May 2025.
17. "Ausländische Bevölkerung Essen nach Nationalität 2025". Statista.
18. "Startseite | Mannheim.de". www.mannheim.de.^{[ full citation needed ]}
19. "Melderegisterauswertung Stand 30.06.2024" (PDF). Retrieved 8 October 2024.
20. "Zuwanderung" . Retrieved 8 October 2024.
21. "Anzahl der Ausländer in Bayern nach Staatsangehörigkeit im Jahr 2024" . Retrieved 16 June 2025.
22. "Ausländische Bevölkerung nach Geschlecht und ausgewählten Staatsangehörigkeiten (85) der Welt - Land - Stichtag" . Retrieved 16 June 2025.
23. Data not publicly available, only upon request from "Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg"
24. "Anzahl der Ausländer in Baden-Württemberg nach Staatsangehörigkeit im Jahr 2024" (PDF). Retrieved 16 June 2025.
25. "Anzahl der Ausländer in Hessen nach Staatsangehörigkeit im Jahr 2024" . Retrieved 16 June 2025.
26. "Anzahl der Ausländer in Niedersachsen nach Staatsangehörigkeit im Jahr 2024" . Retrieved 16 June 2025.
27. "Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund in den Hamburger Stadtteilen 2023" (PDF). Retrieved 16 June 2025.
28. "Germany welcomes record number of Indian students: Study in Germany". Careerindia.com. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
29. "Germany to Indian students: Willkommen!". Washington Post. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
30. "Indian students' enrolment in German universities up more than 100% in 5 years". Times of India . Retrieved 29 August 2017.
31. "Number of Indian students in Germany doubles". Timeshighereducation.com. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
32. "'In last 5 years, intake of Indian students in German universities has doubled'". Indianexpress.com. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
33. "Germany scores high for students; record growth in Indians studying in Germany for 2014–15". Blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
34. "'Germany welcomes record number of indian students in 2018–2019'". daad.in. 22 August 2015. Archived from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
35. "2018–19 record number of Indian students". Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
36. "Germany welcomes Record Number of Indian Students | DAAD India in 2019–20". Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
37. "Indian Student Numbers touch a Record High in Germany". www.daad.in. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
38. "'Indians form largest group of international students in Germany'". thepienews.com. 9 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
39. "'Germany welcomes more from India, while student arrivals to the US plunge: The new geographyof Indian ambition". thepienews.com. 9 September 2024. Retrieved 23 August 2025.

Further reading

• Datta, Amrita (11 November 2023), Stories of the Indian Immigrant Communities in Germany: Why Move? , Springer, doi:10.1007/978-3-031-40147-3, ISBN   978-3-031-40147-3
• Meijering, Louise; Van Hoven, Bettina (2003), "Imagining difference: The experiences of 'transnational' Indian IT-professionals in Germany" (PDF), Area, 35 (2): 175–182, Bibcode:2003Area...35..174M, doi:10.1111/1475-4762.00253
• Lal, Brij V.; Reeves, Peter; Reeves, Rajesh, eds. (2006), "Germany", The encyclopedia of the Indian diaspora, University of Hawaii Press, pp. 358–362, ISBN   978-0-8248-3146-2
• Goel, Urmila (2007), "'Indians in Germany': The imagination of a community" (PDF), UNEAC Asia Papers, 20, archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2010, retrieved 15 September 2009
• Goel, Urmila (2008). "'Half Indians', Adopted 'Germans' and 'Afghan Indians'. On Claims of 'Indianness' and their contestations in Germany". Transforming Cultures eJournal. 3 (1). doi: 10.5130/tfc.v3i1.676 .
• Goel, Urmila (2008), "The German Internet Portal Indernet: A Space for Multiple Belongingness", in Goggin, Gerard; McLelland, Mark (eds.), Internationalizing Internet Studies: Beyond Anglophone Paradigms, Routledge advances in internationalizing media studies, vol. 2, Taylor & Francis, pp. 128–144, ISBN   978-0-415-95625-3

External links

• Indians in Magdeburg - a student initiative that helps and provides useful information to non-German speakers, especially Indian students
• Magdeburg Indians- Magdeburg Indians e.V. – a private organization registered in Magdeburg, Germany Archived 25 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine , Saxony-Anhalt
• Deutsch-Indische Gesellschaft
• Indians in Germany
• Indians In Germany
• Indien-Institut in Munich/Bavaria; attached to Völkerkundemuseum
• Escape from East Germany 1972 Archived 8 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine , autobiographical account of an Indian Ph.D. student in Dresden who married an East German woman
• Marathi Katta Germany, Frankfurt – A Marathi Indian Community, a non-profit organization serving Marathi/Maharashtrian Indian community living in Germany for many years.