Diverse crowd at New York City Rathayatra.

The Pew Research Center (PRC) has released new analytics on the religious makeup of the world’s migrants. Nearly half of the estimated 280 million people migrants are Christians. In contrast, Hindu migrants make up only 5%, mainly choosing to stay in their countries of birth. Muslims accounted for 29% of migrants, Buddhists represented 4%, and Jews were just 1%. Religiously unaffiliated accounted for around 13% of the world’s migrants.

According to the study, “Hindus are starkly underrepresented among international migrants (5%) compared with their share of the global population (15%). India is both the most common country of origin and the top destination for Hindu migrants.”

Madana-gopala Das (far right) with community leaders, including the Mayor of Parsippany, James Barberio (4th from left) at their 2024 Rathayatra Festival.

Despite the relatively low percentage of Indian migrants compared to Christian migration, the influx of Indian migrants has significantly impacted ISKCON temples. These migrants, some of whom are students and others who work in the medical, tech, and investment fields, have found a home in temples like ISKCON of New Jersey. Many of these highly skilled workers also take their faith seriously, as Madana-gopala Das, Board Member and Director of Communications at the temple, can attest. He spoke about the impact on their community, saying, “Our temple has been serving the Towaco/Parsippany area for over 42 years now, and the congregation has grown substantially to several hundred regular members. The vast majority of our members are of Indian descent.” Immigration has significantly changed the town of Parsippany with around 30% of residents now being of Indian origin. Madana-gopala continued, “In addition to the ISKCON temple, there are at least eight other Hindu organizations in the town that cater to this demographic. Our new ISKCON Parsippany Temple is one of the largest ISKCON temples in North America. This 38,000 sq. ft. facility will serve as the spiritual heart of the Parsippany community. It is currently under construction, and we expect to move into it sometime in the next few months. The fact that a large portion of our current congregation resides in Parsippany was a major factor in our choice of location.”

An average summer weekend at New Vrindaban where nearly a 1,000 plates of prasadam were shared with visiting pilgrims.

Another ISKCON Community that religiously minded migrants have positively impacted is New Vrindaban in West Virginia. The popular pilgrimage location welcomes tens of thousands of annual visitors who stay multiple days at the spiritual oasis or participate in some of its yearly festivals. Over the last few years, there has been a significant uptick in Nepalese guests. As of 2022, more than 167,000 Nepalese have immigrated to the United States, with a substantial percentage settling in nearby Ohio and Pennsylvania. Many of them are deeply religious and appreciate the nearby pilgrimage destination, famous for Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold.

The PRC study is part of the larger Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project. This significant academic endeavor explores global religious change and its impact on societies. To read the complete study, click here.