It may come as a surprise but the majority of foreign students studying in the US are comprised of Indian nationals. Statistics show that India takes the number one spot in terms of foreign students in the US. At the same time, India is actually the top country worldwide that sends out students to international grounds for studies.
In the year 2006, there were more than 123,000 Indian students who have studied outside of their home country. An estimate of 80,000 from that figure has all come to the United States to study in the top educational institutions recognized around the globe. During the 2000 to 2001 academic year, the number of Indian Students who have come to the US to study was estimated at 55,000. That is a 25,000 increase according to the US government.
In the year 2006, about 74 percent of the Indian students were studying Graduate courses while 16.6 percent of those were undergraduate students. The 9.6 percent were allotted to certain programs like English language training and other vocational or additional educational programs. Over $13 billion was raised and earned by the US economy from international students in the year 2006.
Previously, China was the leading source of international students to the US. In the year 2000, China topped the list of foreign students until Indian students came and exceeded this. This only goes to show that the population of India is also rapidly increasing in number. Statistics are looking at India’s working age population to increase and exceed that of China’s.