Overview
- Official data tabled in Parliament records 1,882,318 Indian students across 153 countries based on enrolments counted up to January 1, 2025.
- University and other tertiary enrolments declined to 1,254,013 from 1.33 million in 2024, marking the first year-on-year drop after three years of increases.
- The dataset adds 628,305 school-level students for the first time, a methodological change that limits direct comparisons with earlier MEA releases.
- Canada hosts the largest tertiary cohort at 427,085, followed by the United States (255,247), the United Kingdom (173,190), Australia (138,579) and Germany (49,483).
- The UAE leads school enrolments with 247,325, with sizable school populations also reported in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman; reportage cites visa rules and diplomatic strains as possible drivers of the tertiary decline.