There exists little scholarship on the demographic effects of the indentured trade and other overseas emigration on the migrants’ countries of origin. Although the trade targeted the same demographic group as the trans-Atlantic slave trade, namely young men between twenty and thirty years of age, this movement of indentured migrants seems to have a less detrimental effect on population than the earlier slave trade. One of the most obvious reasons for this difference was that many of the sending countries were suffering the effects of overpopulation, including larger numbers of often poor rural inhabitants coming to the cities in search of work, creating a supply of willing recruits whose loss did not affect the population growth of the country as much the earlier situation in Africa, where land was relatively plentiful and large numbers of landless individuals were simply not present. Even though the greatest number of indentured workers came from India, the percentage of indentured migrants leaving the country in any given year was only about 0.01 per cent of the country’s total population. It must be remembered, also, that even though large numbers of migrants left their homelands, many returned home after a period of time, so the net loss to sending countries was not as large as the number of emigrations make it appear. Even if this migration meant a net loss to the population of India, many contemporaries considered this beneficial because, in their opinion, the country was too populated, and emigration was necessary to prevent the starvation caused by crop failures and epidemic diseases. Although the Indian government denied that emigration was connected to prevailing poor conditions within the country, it did not attempt to curtail the numbers of emigration in any way. It is difficult, however, to draw any definitive conclusions, as much more research needs to be done in this area.

The demographic impact of indentured labour and other Asian immigration varied tremendously throughout the New World. In many areas the end of the trade signalled a diminished presence of labourers as governments sought to discourage permanent settlement through discriminatory policies. In North America, for example, the discrepancy in sex ratios as well as exclusionist government policies ensured that Chinese and Japanese populations in Canada and the United States would remain low and segregated in distinct communities. The same was true for Chinese indentured populations in Cuba and Peru, where an extreme imbalance in the sexes caused a reduction in their numbers after the ending of indenture. In other areas, such as in the West Indies, indentured African migrants were absorbed into the much larger pre-existing Afro-Caribbean population created by freed slaves and their descendants. In some cases, migrant populations remained a strong and distinct part of their overseas environments, as was the case with the Chinese and Japanese populations in Hawaii, who made up more than half of the islands’ population until into the 1920s. Migrants from India and Java became the majority in British Guiana, Réunion, and Mauritius, replacing Africans as the dominant cultural group. By 1921 Indians made up more than one-third of the population of Trinidad. In areas where sex ratios were more equal, natural reproduction ensured a stable population, as children born in these new areas were less susceptible to the diseases that had afflicted the first arrivals.

As with trying to assess other areas of the impact of indenture, there is very little information concerning the economic impact of indenture on sending countries. If the demographic impact was negligible in these countries, one could assume that the economic impact was just as much a non-issue. In the case of India, its economic position was also tied in with the effects of British imperial control, and indenture could be seen as another branch of that control, which kept Indians in a subservient economic position for the betterment of British planters and the British economy. It is true that overseas migrants generally fared better than those individuals who migrated within India. Returning migrants to India from Surinam, for example, brought with them an average of sixteen pounds (two years’ wages in India), however, profits varied greatly and those who were sick or disabled often returned with nothing. As well, migrant workers who chose to return to their homelands after the expiration of their contracts, sometimes after as many as fifteen or twenty years, often faced an environment that was very different from the one they had known. So many individuals had difficulty fitting in and readjusting to life in India that the government actually considered establishing separate communities for returned migrants, as it was usually those who were unsuccessful who returned to India.

In general, those indentured workers who profited most from the system opted to remain in the colonies and continue to prosper rather than face the uncertainty of return home, contributing not only to their own livelihood and prosperity, but also enhancing the prosperity of the colonies in which they chose to settle. Although the period of indentured labour was much shorter than that of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the economic benefits for Europe, America, and the Caribbean were evident. For projects such as the railroads, which were built extensively with indentured and free Asian labour, the economic advantages for the employers, as has been demonstrated, were very real. For many individuals who owned plantations and who had relied on slave labour for the productivity and profitability of their crops, indentured or other low-paying labour was vital to the continuation of their livelihoods, and the economic success of the colonies as a whole. The fact that between the first decades after the abolition of slavery and the systematic importation of indentured workers sugar production in many colonies went into decline testifies to the importance of this type of labour. As well, indentured labour was vital to the development and expansion of new European colonies such as Trinidad and islands in the South Pacific such as Fiji and Mauritius.

In most cases, the economic success of the plantation didn’t often trickle down to those who contributed their labour to its success. Low wages were a continual source of discontent for labouring communities, and often led to “mischievous agitation against employers” by almost every ethnic group. The economic development of the individuals who remained in the colonies depended on a large number of factors, including the type of work being performed, the wage, the attitude of the employer, the other opportunities offered them in their new homes, as well as the cultural heritage which the migrants brought with them. The Japanese in Hawaii, for example, were already a significantly literate group upon arrival on the island, due to the rapid expansion of education in Japan in the late nineteenth century. After indenture and with the aid of successful immigrants who had not arrived as contract workers, they were able to move into a wide range of occupations, and entered the learned professions at an earlier date than other migrant communities. Stereotypes and prejudicial attitudes, however, continued to exclude other communities from the more economically profitable occupations, and many continued to be denied the franchise. An individual’s cultural background could also influence their economic success in their new homes. Groups such as the Indian population in Trinidad, for example, placed less emphasis on formal education, many having been rural residents in India with limited access to schools, which resulted in this group being the most economically depressed group in Trinidad, although there were significant distinctions within Indian communities and certain groups were more economically successful than others.

The cultural legacy of Asian immigrants to the Americas and Caribbean is vibrant and extremely varied. Each migrant community affected, and was affected by, the area in which they settled, which makes defining a general “Indian” or “Japanese” contribution nearly impossible. All of these groups, however, shared certain common characteristics. Each was a part of a “plural society”, one made up of a wide variety of cultural and ethnic groups, defined along lines separating one group from another. The degree of separation, however, varied from area to area. In many areas, for example, Indian and African groups tended to distance themselves from one another, however in the West Indies the groups were hostile towards the rapid economic success of Portuguese migrants. Most historians agree that caste divisions among Indian communities tended to be subsumed into larger orders of Hinduism, however, language, region, and these larger caste divisions tended to be reinforced by marriage which further segregated overseas communities.

Indian language in Surinam, conversely, became a mixture of Indian dialects into a distinct language, known as Sarnami, which adopted its own grammatical forms and which borrowed words from Sranan Tongo, the primary language of Surinam. This development is unique in the Caribbean; in other areas, such as Trinidad or British Guiana, the superiority of English was stressed by the government and most migrants communicated in English, whereas the government of Surinam was more lax about instituting a comprehensive cultural and educational policy. The Hindu religion in the Caribbean also proved a remarkably flexible institution, and the widely varying beliefs of arriving migrants gradually morphed into a more uniform Caribbean Hindu religion, aided by the loosening of caste structures. One observer noted that in extreme cases Hindu immigrants “lose their respect for the caste and the religion of their fathers which they neglect, and acquire no other in its place. [...] One of their reasons for not returning to India is that they would be despised and mobbed in their native villages or have to spend much money for re-admission to their caste.”

Working-class Africans in Jamaica, responding to oppression and low wages, responded with a spiritual movement known as “The Great Revival”, and many religious sects present in the island’s culture today probably owe their existence to the movement. It began in the Moravian church in 1859 and quickly spread to the Baptist and Wesleyan congregations, combining both Christian and African elements such as dancing, drumming, and spirit possession, which was frowned upon by Christian missionaries. A testament to the growing power of the movement and the people themselves is evident in the comment of a disgruntled Westmoreland official, who complained of the noisy Revivalist meetings and that the “people are under the impression that they can do what they like in their own places”.

Chinese and Japanese migrants in North America, who were primarily Buddhists or Taoists, affected and were affected by the dominant white culture in different ways. Chinese migrants, who were overwhelmingly male, settled in Chinatowns in urban centres, where they could find the support of family and friends, or were scattered in much smaller numbers in the tiny towns along the western coastline. The cohesiveness and solidarity of Chinese culture in Chinatowns, segregated from the white community, prevented the kind of acculturation to be found in other groups. As well, Chinese migrants had their aspirations turned towards China by both their family traditions as well as by the oppression faced by many Chinese in North America. Even some of those born in North America felt that they had “to look to China for their life work”. Japanese migrants, conversely, some of whom were political exiles because they belonged to particular Buddhist sects, were generally more willing to adopt the culture of their new homes, and raise their children as “Americans” or “Canadians”, rather than “Japanese”.

One father told his son to continue “with American higher education ... show the Americans your ability ... that is your duty to your parents", an attitude which was shared by many. For others, the adoption of Christianity was a hallmark of successful adaptation, one Japanese Christian group going so far as to resolve that “Americanization can only be realized through Christianity”. The implication that to be anything other than a Christian was to compromise the new migrants’ allegiance is evident by the group’s further statement that “we who are in the United States are to be, first of all, loyal to our land of adoption.” Those Japanese who did become Christians, however, were almost totally segregated, as were African Americans, from their white counterparts in the churches. Although conflict between Buddhists and Christians was relatively rare, Buddhist priests were one of the groups singled out for incarceration in internment camps during the Second World War.

There is much more scholarship which needs to be done on the subject of indentured labour and other forms of Asian and African immigration. Many of the aspects of this huge topic are sources of intense debate amongst historians, while other aspects have barely begun to be explored.