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Indian migrants’ incomes double after moving abroad: World Bank report
Indians who migrate abroad experience an average income increase of 118 percent, the report said.
Representative Image. / Unsplash
A World Bank report has stated that Indians who migrate abroad often see their income levels more than double, while those who remain in India may have to wait over 20 years for a similar increase.
This disparity helps explain why many Indians who move abroad choose not to return, even when they could earn a wage premium by doing so. These findings come from a recent report titled ‘Migrants, Refugees, and Societies’.
Indians who migrate abroad experience an average income increase of 118 percent, the report said. In comparison, international migrants from Bangladesh see a 210 percent increase, and those from Ghana see a 153 percent rise.
The report highlights that a significant factor driving economic migration is the wage gap between the origin and destination countries. For example, a truck driver in Canada earns five times more than a truck driver in Mexico, even after accounting for differences in the cost of living. Similarly, nurses in Germany earn nearly seven times more than their counterparts in the Philippines.
Although high-skilled workers see the largest absolute income gains after migration, low-skilled workers also experience significant increases. For instance, low-skilled Indians who migrate to the U.S. see their incomes rise by 493 percent.
Low-skilled Indians who migrate to Gulf countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates see their incomes rise by 118 percent. Specifically, those who migrate to the UAE experience a 298 percent increase in income. These figures do not account for purchasing power parity, as the majority of spending—approximately 85 percent of Indian migrants' earnings in the UAE—occurs in India through remittances.
The potential income gains are most significant when individuals move from low to high-income countries. For an Indian who remains in the country, it would take 24 years of economic growth to achieve the same income increase that an Indian who migrates to a high-income country experiences.
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