Malayalam, Tamil-speaking international diaspora larger than internal one: Study

News18

4 days ago

Ahmedabad, Aug 14 (PTI) There are more people who speak Malayalam or Tamil outside India than those residing outside their respective state of Kerala or Tamil Nadu within the country, according to a study conducted by a faculty member of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA).
While Punjabi-speaking people are the most 'dispersed" linguistic community in the country as per the census data of 2011, the Indian Bengali diaspora — both internal and international — was the least dispersed, said the study.
These interesting findings are part of a research article published recently by IIMA faculty member Chinmay Tumbe.
The study mapped out internal and international diasporas of India along linguistic lines and found that more than 60 million Indians belonged to 'internal' diaspora in 2010, nearly three-time the size of the country's 'international' diaspora.
Internal or domestic diaspora for a linguistic community means those living in states other than their core speaking state inside India, while international diaspora refers to those living in other countries.
'The internal diaspora is larger than the international counterpart for all major linguistic groups except for Malayalam and Tamil. A third of the internal diaspora is dispersed across ten largest Indian cities," noted Tumbe's study published in 'Sociological Bulletin' journal.
Of the total 4.6 million Malayali diaspora, nearly three million reside outside India, while 1.6 million are part of 'internal diaspora" living in states other than Kerala, it said.
This data suggests the international (Malayali) diaspora is nearly 1.8 times larger than the internal diaspora.
The Indian Tamil diaspora comprises more than 8.4 million people. Of these, 4.5 million are living outside India and nearly 3.9 million within India, suggesting the international diaspora is almost 1.2 times larger than the internal one, pointed out the study.
Except for these two (Malayalam and Tamil speakers), the international diaspora is less than the internal one in all other major Indian linguistic groups, it said.
With nearly 40 million people, Hindi speakers are the largest diaspora in India, followed by 8.4 million Tamil diaspora, both internal and international.
With nearly 12.4 per cent of their total population living outside Punjab or the country, Punjabi- speaking diaspora was the most dispersed in 2010, said the study.
'If we take the total estimated Malayalam diaspora as a percentage of total Malayalam speakers in its core region (Kerala) and in the total diaspora, then the number stood at 12.2 per cent, second only to Punjabi, at 12.4 per cent. Tamilians were third at 11.5 per cent.
'Thus, among nine major language groups of India, Punjabi, Malayalam, and Tamil were the most dispersed. They were followed by Telugu (9.7 per cent), Gujarati (8.7 pc), Hindi (7.5 pc), Marathi (6.6 pc), Kannada (4.6 pc) and Bengali (3.7 pc)," noted the study.
Compared to other linguistic diasporas analysed for the study, the Indian Bengali diaspora was the least dispersed in 2010, relative to the population of speakers in its core region West Bengal, it said.
As per the data, of the total 97 million Bengali speakers, the diaspora (internal and international) comprised only 3.6 million, which comes to 3.7 per cent of their overall population.
The Telugu diaspora linked with states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana comprises 8 million people, of which 7 million are part of the internal diaspora, the study said.
'It (Telugu) is the third largest Indian linguistic diaspora after Hindi and Tamil. As a ratio of international to internal diaspora, it is among the lowest out of the major linguistic groups of India," it added.
Giving details about the Tamil internal diaspora, the study said nearly a million are spread out in nine largest cities of India, with Mumbai being the most prominent among them.
'In Madhya Pradesh in central India, there were nearly 10,000 Tamil speakers in Bhopal in 2001, 6,000 in Jabalpur and 3,000 in Indore, reflecting their spread beyond the big cities," it added.
The study highlighted an interesting aspect, observing it is quite likely that in the case of Tamilians, the international diaspora was formed before the internal one.
'Migration of Tamilians to southeast Asia and southern Africa was prominent since the 19th century whereas migration towards north India was more of a phenomenon in the 20th century," it pointed out. PTI PJT PD RSY
First Published:
August 14, 2025, 17:30 IST
News agency-feeds Malayalam, Tamil-speaking international diaspora larger than internal one: Study
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