Indo-Caribbeans

Indo-Caribbean people

Total population
c. 1.5 million
Regions with significant populations
Trinidad and Tobago	468,524 (a plurality of the population)[1]
Guyana	297,493 (a plurality of the population)[2] = [3]
Netherlands	200,000 (Indo-Caribbeans in the Netherlands)[4]
Suriname	148,443 (a plurality of the population)
Canada	100,000 (Indo-Caribbean Canadians)[3]
Martinique	36,123[5]
Guadeloupe	35,617[6]
United Kingdom	25,000 (British Indo-Caribbeans)[3]
Jamaica	21,584[7]
French Guiana	12,000
Belize	7,600
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	5,900
Saint Lucia	5,200
Puerto Rico	4,100
Barbados	4,000
Grenada	3,900
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1,500
Cayman Islands	1,437[8]
British Virgin Islands	1,100
U.S. Virgin Islands	1,000
Haiti	580[9]
Bahamas	300[10]
Dominican Republic	54[11]
Languages
Colonial Languages: Caribbean English (predominantly Trinidadian and Tobagonian English Guyanese English Creole Sranan Tongo Jamaican Patois/English) American English Canadian English British English Surinamese Dutch Standard Dutch Antillean French Creole Standard French Papiamento Spanish Portuguese Indian Languages: Caribbean Hindustani Hinglish Tamil Languages spoken by more recent immigrants: Standard Hindustani (Hindi–Urdu) Indian English Sindhi Gujarati Punjabi Bengali Kutchi Marathi Tamil Telugu Malayalam Kannada Other South Asian languages
Religion
Majority: Hinduism Significant Minority: Christianity Islam Other Minority: Sikhism Jainism Buddhism Zoroastrianism Baháʼí Others
Related ethnic groups
Indian people Indian diaspora Indo-Caribbean Americans British Indo-Caribbean people Indian Americans Indo-Canadians Indians in the Netherlands British Indians Indian South Africans Indo-Fijians Indo-Mauritians Indian diaspora in Southeast Africa Indian Singaporeans Malaysian Indians

Indo-Caribbeans or Indian-Caribbeans are people in the Caribbean who are descendants of the Jahaji indentured laborers from India and the wider subcontinent, who were brought by the British, Dutch, and French during the colonial era from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. A minority of them are descendants from people who immigrated as entrepreneurs, businesspeople, merchants, engineers, doctors, religious leaders and other professional occupations beginning in the mid-20th century.

Most Indo-Caribbean people live in the English-speaking Caribbean nations, the Dutch-speaking Suriname and the French overseas departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana, with smaller numbers in other Caribbean countries and, following further migration, in North America and Europe.

Indo-Caribbean people may also be referred to as Caribbean Indians, East Indian West Indians,^[a] Caribbean Hindustanis, South Asian Caribbeans,^[19] or Caribbean Desis,^[20] while first-generation Indo-Caribbeans were called Girmitya, Desi, Hindustani, Kantraki, Mulki (m.) / Mulkin (f.),^[21] or Jahaji (m.) / Jahajin (f.). Coolie, meaning hired laborer, was used in the plantation society of the late 19th to early 20th century, however in the present-day it is considered a derogatory way to refer to Indo-Caribbeans and is considered a pejorative.^[22]

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