Nearly nine lakh gave up citizenship in five years, MEA says reasons are personal
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Nearly nine lakh individuals relinquished their Indian citizenship over the past five years, and the Ministry of External Affairs informed Parliament on Thursday that the annual numbers had varied significantly as global mobility increased and personal choices continued to shape migration trends.
The ministry stated that 85,256 persons gave up their citizenship in 2020, while the figure rose sharply to 1.6 lakh in 2021 and then increased further to 2.2 lakh in 2022, and it added that the number stood at 2.1 lakh in 2023 and reached 2 lakh in 2024.
Officials noted that the pattern before this period had been comparatively stable, and the data from 2011 to 2019 showed that between 1.2 lakh and 1.4 lakh persons renounced their Indian citizenship annually.
The details were shared in response to a question raised by an Opposition MP, who sought clarity on whether the government maintained information about the income levels or occupational backgrounds of those who opted to surrender their citizenship, and the ministry responded that no such profiles were available.
Kirti Vardhan Singh, the minister of state for external affairs, explained that the government did not possess this category of data, and he reiterated that renunciation was a voluntary act based on individual circumstances.
The figures followed an earlier statement made by the Union government in March, when it told Parliament that the reasons for renunciation were personal and known only to each individual, and it argued that such decisions often stemmed from subjective considerations rather than policy-driven factors.
At the time, the government highlighted that the global workplace had expanded rapidly in an era shaped by the knowledge economy, and it maintained that this shift had significantly transformed India’s engagement with its diaspora.
The government also emphasised that a successful and influential diaspora contributed positively to India’s international presence, and it said that the country stood to benefit from leveraging diaspora networks and the soft power associated with a flourishing global community of people of Indian origin.