Indians in Germany


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. In 2024 the number stood at about 301,000 of Indian descent of which 249,000 had a migration background. 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.

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. According to the documentary ‘Translated lives’, around 5,000 women migrated from Kerala during the 1960s and 70s to become nurses there.
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.

Modern era

Germany has become a popular destination for higher learning, and of the total student population in Germany about 12% are International students. 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. As a result, there has been a steady increase in the Indian student population in Germany which has quadrupled in 7 years since 2008.
Academic yearNo. of Indian students enrolled in German universities
2008–093,516
2011–125,998
2012–137,532
2013–1410,000
2014–1511,860
2015–1613,740
2017–1817,570
2018–1920,810
2019–2025,149
2020–2128,905
2021–2234,134
2022–2342,997
2023–2449,483
2024-2560,000

Notable people