5 facts about the global Somali diaspora
Pew Research Center
Tuesday, November 08, 2016
BY PHILLIP CONNOR AND JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD
BY PHILLIP CONNOR AND JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD
Somalia has faced lawlessness and strife during its decades-long civil war. As
the country of 10.8 million continues to experience political and economic
instability, its people are increasingly living outside of Somalia. New
migrants are making their way to places like Europe, but they face a long and
dangerous journey over land and sea. Hundreds of Somalis reportedly died in
April 2016 while crossing the Mediterranean Sea and after crossing over land
through Northern Africa. And as a result of its long civil war, many Somalis
have lived outside the country for many years. Recently, though, Kenya pledged
to remove Somalis living in refugee camps from within its borders, potentially
sending hundreds of thousands of people back to Somalia who have not lived
there for many years, or possibly elsewhere.
Here are five facts about the increasingly global Somali diaspora
1 - Between 1990 and 2015, the total number of
people born in Somalia but living outside the country more than doubled, from
about 850,000 to 2 million. The share of Somali migrants abroad grew 136%
between 1990 and 2015, according to United Nations estimates. At the same time,
the population of Somalia itself has grown less quickly at 71%, increasing from
6.3 million in 1990 to 10.8 million in 2015. (The global Somali diaspora
includes all migrants, both refugees and other migrants.)
2 - The number of Somali
refugees displaced by ongoing conflict continues to rise. In 1990, the United
Nations High Commissioner on Refugees estimated that about 470,000 of the total
Somali global diaspora (about 55%) was living in a temporary refugee situation.
By 2014, that number had grown to 1.1 million – still about 55% of all Somalis
living outside of Somalia. Even though refugee camps are meant to be temporary,
some Somali refugees have lived in camps located in neighboring countries such
as Kenya and Ethiopia for decades.
3 - Almost two-thirds of
the global Somali diaspora live in neighboring countries. At nearly half a
million, Kenya hosts the largest number of Somali migrants (both refugees and
nonrefugees) of any other country, according to UN estimates. Not far behind is
Ethiopia with 440,000 Somali migrants. Combining Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and
Yemen (across the Gulf of Aden), nearly two-thirds of the world’s Somali
migrants lived in neighboring countries in 2015. At the same time, Somalis have
become increasingly dispersed across the world. In 1990, an estimated 90% of
Somali migrants lived in the four nations near Somalia, a share that dropped to
64% by 2015.
4 - An estimated 280,000
Somali immigrants live in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland, largely
due to a steady flow of asylum seekers. The EU, Norway and Switzerland are home
to 14% of the world’s Somali migrant population. Since 2008, these countries
have received nearly 140,000 asylum applications from Somalis, according to the
EU’s statistical agency Eurostat. The annual flow of Somali asylum seekers has
held relatively steady since this benchmark year, but their destination
countries within Europe have changed. In 2015, Germany and Sweden received
about half of these Somali asylum seekers. In earlier years, the Netherlands
and Italy were more common destinations for Somali asylum seekers.
5 - The U.S. Somali immigrant community continues to
grow. Estimates from the United Nations indicate that the total number living
in the U.S. was around 2,500 in 1990, but had grown to between 140,000 and
150,000 by 2015. In all, the U.S. is home to about 7% of the world’s Somali
migrant population. Between fiscal years 2001 and 2015, the U.S. admitted more
than 90,000 refugees from Somalia, according to the U.S. Office of Refugee
Resettlement. This refugee flow continues today, with nearly 9,000 refugees
from Somalia entering the U.S. in fiscal 2015. The U.S. also approved 1,645
green cards in 2014 for Somalis sponsored by U.S. citizen immediate family
members, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
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