Photo Caption: Map indicating Rohingya populations in India. Areas with the largest Rohingya populations
are indicated in dark blue, areas where they reside in smaller numbers are lighter, and areas with no registered Rohingya population are pale blue. Photo by DAJI.
Estimates of the number of Rohingya living in India vary widely. UNHCR has registered more
than 20,000 Rohingya refugees. The last public estimates by the Indian government in 2017 put
the number at 40,000. The Rohingya population in India is a mix of those who arrived following
earlier periods of persecution and those who have arrived more recently from the camps in Bangladesh. At least 13,000 Rohingya refugees entered India between 2012 and 2016, mostly from
Bangladesh. Recently arrived refugees told the team that they left Bangladesh to come to India
because they were not given all the benefits that earlier refugees received, including shelter
and rations at the refugee camps. Deteriorating conditions in the Bangladesh camps, including
increased incidents of targeted attacks and killings by radical groups, have also motivated some
Rohingya to leave for India. Others, facing hardship in India, have chosen to return to Bangladesh.
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