NEW YORK: The number of Hindus becoming permanent residents in the US has more than doubled over the last two decades.

While in 1992, the Hindus accounted for 3 percent of all immigrants to the US, the figure jumped to 7 percent in 2012, says a study by the non-partisan Pew Research Center in Washington.

In terms of numbers, about 30,000 Hindu immigrants were admitted into the US each year in the 1990s. But their numbers jumped to 70,000 in 2012.

According to the study, nearly 1 million Hindu migrants have been admitted into the US during the past 20 years.

As of 2010, there were about 1.8 million Hindus in the US.

The great majority of Hindu immigrants to the US come from India, Nepal and Bhutan. But the share coming from the Caribbean (West Indies) has decreased significantly, dropping from an estimated 16 percent of all Hindu immigrants to the US in 1992 to 5 percent in 2012, says the study.

The number of immigrants from Sikh, Jain and Jewish (mostly from the former Soviet Union) faiths as well as other folk or traditional religions from China, Hong Kong and sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be 30,000 each year.

Over 68 percent of the one million new immigrants that the US admits each year are Christians. From 1992 to 2012, the US admitted 12.7 million Christian immigrants.

Muslim immigration to the US has also doubled from 5 percent in 1992 to 10 percent in 2012.

The number of Muslims immigrants has increased from 50,000 in 1992 to 100,000 in 2012. From 1992 to 2012, 1.7 million Muslims entered the US as immigrants.