Dubai turns 'little India': Indian expat population in UAE doubles to 4.36 million

Dubai: The Indian expat population in the UAE has surged past 4.36 million, marking a twofold increase in just over a decade, a top Indian diplomat said in Dubai.

Speaking at Indo-UAE Conclave by the India Today Group in Dubai, Satish Sivan, Consul General of India in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, noted the rapid growth in the number of the Indian diaspora in the country.

“This is a blink-and-you-miss kind of relationship. It’s good in a way and terrible in a way because you have to keep up with the statistics. I make a speech one week and the next week that data becomes redundant.”

He pointed out that as recently as December 2023, the official count stood at 3.89 million.

“Within six months, we got the latest data that as of December 2024, we are 4.36 million.”

Doubled in a decade

Comparing the current numbers with data from a decade ago, Sivan highlighted the dramatic demographic shift.

“Just over a decade ago, the Indian diaspora was 2.2 million. We have doubled in just a decade. Today we have 4.36 million and some data puts the UAE population in the early 2000s at 4.5 million. We have actually become equal to the UAE’s total population as it was 20 years ago.”

‘More than half is in Dubai’

Meanwhile, Sunjay Sudhir, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, noted that more than half of the expat community is based in Dubai.

“Dubai is where the India-UAE relationship historically started. Our first dhows landed at Port Rashid here. Today, our Indian community here is 4.3 million plus, and more than half of that is actually in Dubai.”

The ambassador underlined the significant economic impact of the Indian community.

“If you look at our investments into the UAE, I think the vast majority is in Dubai. If you look at our workforce, the people who are driving the economy of Dubai and the UAE in general – more than 60 per cent of the CFOs are actually from India,” Sudhir noted.