Anglo-Indian people

Anglo-Indians

British Raj era Anglo-Indian mother and daughter, c. 1920
Total population
c. 500,000,[1] 56,394 (in India in 2011),[2] 4,400,000+ (ancestry)
Regions with significant populations
India	300,000-400,000 (1996)[3] 125,000-150,000 (2010)[1][4][5]
United Kingdom	86,000[6]
Australia	22,000
Canada	22,000
Bangladesh	20,000[7]
United States	20,000
Myanmar	19,200[8]
New Zealand	15,861
Malaysia	10,310
Singapore	4,800
Pakistan	<1,500[9]
Languages
English (British,
Religion
Majority: Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism)
Related ethnic groups
Anglo-Burmese, Scottish-Indians, Irish Indians, Burghers, Kristang people, Indo people, Singaporean Eurasians, Macanese people, Indo-Aryan people, Dravidian people, British people, Indian diaspora

Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Anglo-Indian" has also encompassed other European and Indian ancestries. Anglo-Indians' first language is usually English.^[10][11][12] Prior to 1911, various designations like "Eurasian" or "Indo-Briton" were used to describe this community.

The All India Anglo-Indian Association, founded in 1926, has long represented the interests of this ethnic group; it holds that Anglo-Indians are unique in that they are Christians, speak English as their mother tongue, and have a historical link to both the British Isles and the Indian sub-continent.^[13]

During the period of British rule in India, children born to unions between British fathers and Indian mothers from the 17th century onwards formed the basis of the Anglo-Indian community. This new ethnic group formed a small yet significant portion of the population and became well represented in certain administrative roles. As Anglo-Indians were mostly isolated from both British and Indian society, their documented numbers dwindled from roughly 300,000 at the time of independence in 1947 to about 125,000–150,000 in modern day India. During much of the time that Britain ruled India (the Raj), British-Indian relationships faced stigma, which meant that the ethnicity of some Anglo-Indians was undocumented or identified incorrectly. As such, many have adapted to local communities in India or emigrated to the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the United States, South Africa and New Zealand.

Similar communities can also be seen in other parts of the world, although in smaller numbers, such as Anglo-Burmese in Myanmar and Burghers in Sri Lanka.^[14]