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Punjabi Diaspora
پنجابی / ਪੰਜਾਬੀ

Total population
2.5―10 million.
Languages
Punjabi and its dialects • English • Swahili • Malaysian • Cantonese • Thai • Indonesian and numerous more other languages
Religion
Sikhism • Islam • Hinduism • Christianity • Jainism • Buddhism • non-religious
Related ethnic groups
Indian Diaspora, Sikh diaspora, Pakistani diaspora, South Asian Diaspora

The Punjabi diaspora refers to the descendants of ethnic Punjabis who emigrated out of the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent to the rest of the world. Punjabis are one of the largest ethnic groups in both the Pakistani and Indian diasporas. The Punjabi diaspora numbers around the world has been given between 2.5―10 million, mainly concentrated in Britain, Canada, United States, Western Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.

Afghanistan

Bangladesh

Many families from Punjab, Pakistan migrated to erstwhile East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) as it was one country at the time. Some of these families chose to remain in Bangladesh after its independence. One such example is the family of Bangladeshi-Punjabi cricketer Junaid Siddique.

Australia

Punjabis migrated to Australia from other parts of the Punjabi diaspora, as well from the state of Punjab itself. The Majority were Sikh and Hindu Punjabis instead of Muslims being the minority.

Canada

85% of Indo-Canadians in British Columbia are Punjabi Sikhs, including former premier of British Columbia, Ujjal Dosanjh.

Germany

The Punjabi Sikh diaspora in Germany is around 15,000-21,000.

Georgia

In 2012 around 2000 farmers from Punjab, India migrated to Georgia to do farming . As of 2018 around 200 out of them are still living there in Tsnori, a town in Kakheti region.

Hong Kong

Among Hong Kong Indian adolescents, Punjabi is the third most common language other than Cantonese. The Punjabis were influential in the military, and in line with the British military thinking of the time (namely, the late 19th century and early 20th century) Punjabi Sikhs, Punjabi Hindus and Punjabi Muslims formed two separate regiments. The regiments were as follows:

• Punjab regiment: 25,000 soldiers (50% Muslim, 40% Hindu and 10% Sikh)
• Sikh Regiment: 10,000 soldiers (80% Sikh, 20% Hindu)

In 1939, Hong Kong's police force included 272 Europeans, 774 Indians (mainly Punjabis) and 1140 Chinese. Punjabis dominated Hong Kong's police force until the 1950s.

From the 2006 Government by-census results, it shows a population of roughly 20,444 Indians and roughly 11,111 Pakistanis residing at the former British territory.

Iran

Around 60 Punjabi Sikh families resides in Iran. Punjabi language is also taught at Kendriya Vidyalaya Tehran, an Indian co-educational school in Baharestan District, Tehran.

Japan

There are 71,000 Punjabis. In Japan 98% of the Punjabis are Sikh and 1.5% of the Punjabis are Christian.

Kenya

Most Kenyan Asians are Gujaratis, but the second largest group are Punjabis. All three major religious groups (Sikh, Muslim and Hindu) are represented in the Punjabi population. The artisan Ramgharia caste used to be the largest group amongst the Sikhs.

Malaysia

Although most Malaysian Indians are Tamils, there were also many Punjabis that immigrated to Malaysia. They are known to be the third largest Indian ethnic group in Malaysia, after the Tamils and Malayalees. According to Amarjit Kaur as of 1993 there were 60, 000 Punjabis in Malaysia. Robin Cohen estimates the number of Malaysian Sikhs as 30, 000 (as of 1995). Recent figures state that there are 130,000 Sikhs in Malaysia.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, Punjabis are one of the largest group of Indian New Zealanders.

Persian Gulf states

In the Gulf states, the largest group among Pakistani expatriates are the Punjabis.

Singapore

The third largest group among Indo-Singaporeans in 1980 were Punjabis (after Tamils - who form a majority of Indo-Singaporeans - and Malayalis), at 7.8% of the Indo-Singaporean population.

Thailand

Most Indians in Thailand are Punjabis.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, around two-thirds of direct migrants (excluding South Asians that immigrated from the Caribbean, Fiji and other regions) from South Asia were Punjabi. The remaining third is mostly Gujarati and Bengali. They form a majority of both the South Asian British Sikh and Hindu communities.

Most "twice-migrants" were also Punjabi or Gujarati.

United Kingdom is also known as the birth place of bhangra music, a style of non traditional Punjabi music created by the Punjabi diaspora.

United States

The earliest South Asian immigrants to the United States were Punjabis, who mostly immigrated to the West Coast, particularly California. Half of Pakistani Americans are Punjabis. 85% of the early Indian immigrants to the US were Sikhs, although they were incorrectly branded by White Americans as "Hindus". 90% of Indians who settled in the Central Valley of California were Punjabi Sikhs.

References

1. ^ "567 Shinder S. Thandi, Punjabi diaspora and homeland relations". eprints.soas.ac.uk.
2. Tony Ballantyne (16 August 2006). Between Colonialism and Diaspora: Sikh Cultural Formations in an Imperial World. ISBN 0822338246.
3. Mahendra Gaur (2007). Foreign policy annual. p. 317. ISBN 9788178353425.
4. Dogra, Chander Suta (January 6, 2013). "From Taran Taran to Tbilisi, in search of a farming paradise" – via www.thehindu.com.
5. Service, Tribune News. "The Georgia Giants". Tribuneindia News Service.
6. Martha Carswell Pennington (1998). Language in Hong Kong at Century's End. Hong Kong University Press. p. 219. ISBN 9789622094185.
7. ^ Robin Cohen (1995). The Cambridge Survey of World Migration. Cambridge University Press. p. 70.
8. Carol R. Ember; Melvin Ember; Ian A. Skoggard (2004). Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Volume I: Overviews and Topics; Volume II: Diaspora Communities. Springer. ISBN 9780306483219.
9. Hong Kong SAR Government (2007). Census and Statistics Department 2006 Population By-census: Section A, Table A105. Hong Kong SAR Government.
10. Chaudhury, Dipanjan Roy (20 May 2016). "Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Iran Gurdwara" – via The Economic Times.
11. "International Schools in Tehran: Indian KV School". December 7, 2017.
12. Project, Joshua. "Punjabi in Japan".
13. Wilfred Whiteley (1974). Language in Kenya.
14. Roger Sanjek (11 November 2014). Mutuality: Anthropology's Changing Terms of Engagement. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8122-9031-8.
15. Amarjit Kaur (1993). Historical Dictionary of Malaysia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810826298.
16. "Punjabis Without Punjabi". apnaorg.com.
17. Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "Indian communities". teara.govt.nz.
18. Ayesha Jalal (1995). Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia: A Comparative and Historical Perspective. Cambridge University Press.
19. Altehenger-Smith, Sherida (1990). Language Change Via Language Planning: Some Theoretical and Empirical Aspects with a Focus on Singapore. p. 77. ISBN 9783871189388.
20. Kernial Singh Sandhu; A. Mani (2006). Indian Communities in Southeast Asia. ISBN 9789812304186.
21. Desh Pardesh. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. 1994. pp. 19–20. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
22. Peter J. Claus; Sarah Diamond; Margaret Ann Mills (2003). South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. p. 158. ISBN 9780415939195.
23. The New Ethnics: Asian Indians in the United States. 2007. ISBN 9781575911113. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
24. http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Pakistani-Americans.html - Under "Language"
25. David M. Reimers (2005). Other Immigrants: The Global Origins of the American People. NYU Press. p. 61.
26. Margaret A. Gibson (1988). Accommodation Without Assimilation. Cornell University Press. p. 2.

v t e Overseas Asians and Asian diasporas
By origin in Asia	Central Kazakh Mongolians Uzbeks East Chinese Japanese Koreans Ryukyuans Taiwanese South Country Afghans Bangladeshis Indians Maldivians Nepalis Pakistanis Sri Lankans Tibetans Ethnicity Baloch Bengali Hindu Gujaratis Odia Kashmiri Mirpuri Mizos Pashtuns Punjabis Roma Saraikis Sikhs Sindhis South Indians Malayalis In the Gulf Tamils Sri Lankan Tamils Telugus Southeast Country Indonesians Malaysians Singaporeans Ethnicity Acehnese Burmese Filipinos Hmong Javanese Laotians Malays Minangkabau Moluccans Thais Vietnamese West Arabs Emirati Iraqi Lebanese Palestinian Syrian Yemeni Armenian Assyrians Azerbaijani Iranian Israeli (Jews) Kurds Turkish
By residence	Africa Nigeria South Africa Americas Canada East Asians South Asians Southeast Asians West Asians Latin America Argentina Brazil Colombia Mexico Peru Caribbean Chinese Dougla Indian Marabou Suriname United States Hispanic and Latino East Asians South Asians Southeast Asians Europe France Germany Netherlands South Asians Sweden United Kingdom Central Asians East Asians South Asians Southeast Asians Oceania Australia New Zealand

v t e Pakistani diaspora
Africa	Libya Somalia South Africa
Asia	South Afghanistan Punjabis Bangladesh India Baloch Pashtuns Sindhis Sri Lanka Pashtuns Sindhis Gulf Bahrain Iran Kuwait Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Baloch Yemen Far East China Hong Kong Japan South Korea South East Burma Malaysia Jawi Peranakan Punjabis Singapore Thailand Middle East Jordan Israel Lebanon Syria
Europe	Denmark France Germany Italy Netherlands Norway Spain United Kingdom London Mirpuris Punjabis Pashtuns Sindhis
Americas	Brazil Canada United States Houston Baloch Pashtuns Punjabis Punjabi Mexicans Sindhis
Oceania	Australia Pashtuns Punjabis Hazaras Sindhis New Zealand Punjabis
See also	Sub-diasporas Baloch Gujarati Hazara Azad Kashmiri Kashmiri Pashtun Punjabi Saraiki Sindhi Related articles Anti-Pakistan sentiment Foreign relations Diplomatic missions Immigration to Pakistan Little Pakistan Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Pakistani nationality law Pakistani passport Pakistani students Visa requirements for Pakistani citizens

v t e Indian diaspora
Africa	Southeast Kenya Madagascar Mauritius Bihari Tamil Mozambique Réunion (Malbars) Seychelles Tamil Tanzania Uganda Zambia Elsewhere Botswana Egypt Ghana South Africa (Tamil) Zimbabwe
Americas	Caribbean Barbados Belize Dominican Republic Grenada Guadeloupe Guyana Haiti (Marabou) Jamaica Martinique Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago U.S. Virgin Islands Latin America Argentina Brazil Chile French Guiana Mexico Panama Peru Uruguay Venezuela Anglo-America Canada Anglo-Indian Punjabi Sindhi Tamil British Columbia Vancouver Toronto United States by location Bengali Indo-Caribbean Gujarati Punjabi Punjabi Mexican Sindhi Tamil Telugu
Asia	South Afghanistan Punjabi Bangladesh Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Bharatha Chetty Tamil Telugu Southeast Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Klingalese Mardijker Tamil Malaysia Chitty Gujarati Jawi Peranakan Malayali Punjabi Tamil Telugu Penang Sabah Sarawak Myanmar Mizo Tamil Philippines Singapore Chitty Tamil Thailand Vietnam East China Hong Kong Japan Korea Taiwan West Bahrain Iran Israel Jews Kuwait Lebanon Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Turkey United Arab Emirates
Europe	Eastern Poland Russia Northern Finland Sweden Southern Cyprus Italy Tamil Malta Portugal Spain Western France Tamil Germany Tamil Ireland Netherlands Switzerland Tamil United Kingdom London Indo-Caribbean Gujarati Punjabi Sindhi Tamil
Oceania	Australia Malayali Punjabi Tamil Sindhi Fiji Gujarati South Indian New Caledonia New Zealand Maori-Indian Punjabi Tamil
See also	Ethnic diasporas Bengali Hindu Gujarati Kashmiri Mirpuri Mizo Odia Punjabi (Sikhs) Romani Sindhi South Indians Malayalis In the Gulf Tamils Telugus Anglo-Indian Chindians Other related articles South Asian diaspora Desi Little India Non-Resident Indian Award Non-Resident Indian Day
An overseas department of France in the southwest Indian Ocean Overseas departments of France in the Americas A sui generis collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific Ocean

• Punjabi diaspora
• Punjab
• Pakistani diaspora
• Ethnic groups in India
• Social groups of Pakistan