Demographics of Kerala - Immigration

Immigration

There are more than 1,000,000 migrants living in Kerala, mostly from Bangladesh and West Bengal, constituting more than 3% of the population. There are also migrants from Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and the North East. In some places like Perumbavoor they outnumber the locals. Some alarmist have even wrote that "off late, Kerala has been hearing more Bengali than its own local language", which is a huge exaggeration, since there are very few migrants in Northern and Southern Kerala. Most of the migrants tend to concentrate around central Kerala, especially in Cochin (Notable exceptions would be Trivandrum and Calicut. In Calicut, Northern immigrants constitute more than 8% of the total population, at 35,000).

Studies indicate that by the time of 2016 state elections, migrants will become a crucial voting block in many of the constituencies in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Thrissur and Kannur. This is expected to boost the United Democratic Front (India), as migrant workers tend to support Congress parties.

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Famous quotes containing the word immigration:

    America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.
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