South Asians in the UK

The Indian diaspora is now 60 million (10 million when SAC began). It is the second largest, after China (65 million) but the most dispersed.

‘The sun never sets on the Indian diaspora’, said Sam George (Director, Global Diaspora Institute, Wheaton College, and Catalyst for Diasporas for the Lausanne Movement), at a recent seminar in Oxford. And it sends the highest amount of funds back ‘home’.

The latest figures for the UK are hard to find but the total may be over 4 million (3.3 million in 2011). Of these 1 million are Hindu, 524,000 are Sikh and around 2 million are Muslim. That compares with around 1 million active members of the Church of England (of course the category ‘Christian’ is far broader).

The fastest growing group are Indian students. Numbers have tripled in the past three years and are set to go on rising, as the Indian and UK governments negotiate their Free Trade Agreement. There are currently around 250,000 Indian students in the UK, now surpassing China, and that figure will grow.

The challenge for the churches: how are we preparing to welcome and show love to this significant group?