Team siliconindia

• Canada leads as the most preferred study destination for Indian students in 2024.
• India remains the world’s largest source of international students, highlighting brain drain concerns.
• Overseas education spending by Indian students continues to rise sharply.

Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom have emerged as the top global destinations for Indian students pursuing higher education, according to a new NITI Aayog report on the internationalization of education.

In 2024, Canada ranked first, hosting about 427,000 Indian students. The United States followed with nearly 337,600 students, while the United Kingdom attracted around 185,000. Australia and Germany rounded out the top five destinations, drawing over 122,000 and 42,000 Indian students respectively.

The report highlights that India is now the world’s largest source of international students, with more than 1.33 million Indians studying abroad in 2024. India also has the biggest higher education, age population globally, with nearly 155 million people between the ages of 18 and 23. Despite this, student inflow into India remains limited. In 2024, for every one international student arriving in India, 28 Indian students went overseas, underscoring a growing brain drain challenge.

Data from 2021-22 shows that Nepal, Afghanistan, the United States, Bangladesh, and the UAE were the leading countries sending students to India. Meanwhile, Indian students studying in Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia spent an estimated Rs 2.9 lakh crore on education during 2023-24.

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The report also notes regional trends. Latvia hosted the highest proportion of Indian students at 17.4 percent, followed by Ireland at 15.3 percent and Germany at 10.1 percent. Within India, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Maharashtra sent the highest number of students abroad.

Outward remittances under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme rose sharply from Rs 975 crore in 2014 to Rs 29,000 crore in 2024, reflecting the rising cost and scale of overseas education.