# Who moved to Somalia: refugees, migrants and settlers in Somalia

> Refugees, transit migrants, foreign workers and past settlers in Somalia: Yemenis, Ethiopians, Indians and Italians, with UNHCR, IOM and census figures.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/diaspora/immigration-to-somalia/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

Somalia is a place people come to, not only a place people leave. UNHCR counted 20,967 refugees and 25,702 asylum seekers living in Somalia at the end of 2025 ([UNHCR Refugee Data Finder](https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=200&yearFrom=1990&yearTo=2025&coa=SOM&coo_all=true)).

Somalia's National Bureau of Statistics describes the country as "a country of origin, transit, and destination" ([NBS, Migration Statistics Report 2025](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Migration-Statistics-Report-2025.pdf)). This page covers the refugees, migrants, workers and settlers who came to Somalia, from medieval traders to today.

## How many refugees live in Somalia now?

UNHCR's yearly figures for refugees and asylum seekers in Somalia are ([UNHCR Refugee Data Finder](https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=200&yearFrom=1990&yearTo=2025&coa=SOM&coo_all=true)):

- **2010:** 1,934 refugees and 24,111 asylum seekers
- **2014:** 2,732 refugees and 9,262 asylum seekers
- **2015:** 8,081 refugees and 10,115 asylum seekers
- **2019:** 17,882 refugees and 17,789 asylum seekers
- **2020:** 11,220 refugees and 13,229 asylum seekers
- **2024:** 19,503 refugees and 22,260 asylum seekers
- **2025:** 20,967 refugees and 25,702 asylum seekers

In 1990 the same series counted 460,000 refugees from Ethiopia, the last year of the camps described on [When Somalia hosted refugees: the camps of 1978 to 1990](/en/diaspora/refugees-in-somalia-1978-1990/) ([UNHCR Refugee Data Finder](https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=200&yearFrom=1990&yearTo=2025&coa=SOM&coo_all=true)). By 1992 the count had fallen to 480 (same source).

Somalia's own statistics differ a little. The NBS counted 18,963 refugees and 21,237 asylum seekers in 2024, using records of the National Commission for Refugees and [IDPs](/en/society/internal-displacement/) ([NBS 2025](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Migration-Statistics-Report-2025.pdf)). A Mixed Migration Centre page cites UNHCR at 32,710 refugees and asylum seekers in May 2026 ([MMC and UNHCR](https://mixedmigration.org/resources/somalia-refugees-migrants-route-yemen-gulf/)).

## Where do the refugees in Somalia come from?

Yemen and Ethiopia are the two largest groups. At the end of 2025 UNHCR listed ([UNHCR Refugee Data Finder](https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=200&yearFrom=1990&yearTo=2025&coa=SOM&coo_all=true)):

- **Yemen:** 13,496 refugees
- **Ethiopia:** 5,338 refugees and 24,952 asylum seekers
- **Syria:** 1,709 refugees and 399 asylum seekers
- **[Sudan](/en/diaspora/sudan/):** 339 refugees and 108 asylum seekers
- **Eritrea:** 50 refugees and 63 asylum seekers
- **[Tanzania](/en/diaspora/tanzania/):** 145 asylum seekers

The NBS gives the 2024 refugee total by nationality as Yemen 11,631, Ethiopia 5,435, Syria 1,629, Sudan 166 and Eritrea 63 ([NBS 2025](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Migration-Statistics-Report-2025.pdf)). Of 21,237 asylum seekers that year, 19,724 were from Ethiopia (same source).

UN DESA, which counts people by country of birth, estimated 77,972 foreign-born people in Somalia in 2024 ([UN DESA, International Migrant Stock 2024](https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/undesa_pd_2024_ims_stock_by_sex_destination_and_origin.xlsx)). It lists 28,964 born in Ethiopia and 17,680 born in Yemen, up from 20,097 foreign-born in 2000 (same source).

## When did Yemenis come to Somalia?

Most came after the war in Yemen widened in March 2015. By 31 December 2015, 30,180 people had arrived from Yemen since 27 March ([UNHCR, Somalia Task Force on Yemen Situation, Update #50](https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/32190)).

UNHCR's count of Yemeni refugees in Somalia rose from 5 in 2014 to 5,183 in 2015 and 13,496 in 2025 ([UNHCR Refugee Data Finder](https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=200&yearFrom=1990&yearTo=2025&coa=SOM&coo_all=true)). A Rift Valley Institute study reported "a marked and parallel growth" of Yemeni refugees and migrants to northern Somali towns after 2015 ([Majid and Abdirahman, RVI, 2019](https://riftvalley.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Mobility-Trust-and-Exchange-by-Nisar-Majid-and-Khalif-Abdirahman-RVI-X-Border-Project-2019.pdf)). Somalis in Yemen are covered on [Yemen](/en/diaspora/yemen/).

## Who crosses Somalia on the way to Yemen?

Mostly young Ethiopians heading for Saudi Arabia on what IOM calls the Eastern Route. In 2019 about 92% of people crossing to Yemen were Ethiopian, and 62% had left from Somalia ([IOM, 14 Feb 2020](https://www.iom.int/news/journey-africa-yemen-remains-worlds-busiest-maritime-migration-route)). IOM counted over 138,000 arrivals in Yemen that year (same source).

Recent figures, each from the agency named:

- **Ethiopia exits on the route:** 173,000 in January to September 2024, up from 135,000 a year earlier ([IOM DTM, Sep 2024](https://dtm.iom.int/es/node/45381)).
- **Arrivals in Yemen, 2024:** "more than 60,000", said IOM's Yemen chief ([The National, 11 Aug 2025](https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2025/08/11/africa-yemen-migration-crisis-requires-new-approach-iom-warns)).
- **Arrivals in Yemen, 2025:** 110,144, 97% of them Ethiopian ([IOM DTM Yemen, Annual Report 2025](https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/ioms-dtm-yemen-flow-monitoring-annual-report-2025)).
- **Deaths and disappearances, 2025:** 922 per IOM ([Africanews, 25 Mar 2026](https://www.africanews.com/2026/03/25/un-migration-agency-says-2025-was-deadliest-year-on-red-sea-migrant-route/)); 992 per the MMC page, against 558 in 2024 ([MMC and UNHCR](https://mixedmigration.org/resources/somalia-refugees-migrants-route-yemen-gulf/)).

IOM runs seven flow monitoring points on Somalia's borders with Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti and on the [Gulf of Aden](/en/relations/yemen/) coast ([NBS, Migration Statistics Report 2024](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Migration-Statistics-Report-2024.pdf)). IOM's 2023 flow data showed 32% of some 335,000 people moving in the Horn aiming to reach Somalia itself ([MMC, Sep 2024](https://mixedmigration.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/347_Mixed-Movements-in-Somalia.pdf)).

## How many foreign workers are in Somalia?

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs registered 4,534 foreign workers in 2024, up from 3,730 in 2023 ([NBS 2025](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Migration-Statistics-Report-2025.pdf)). Of the 2024 total, 2,425 were new permits and 2,109 renewals (same source). Men held 4,142 of the permits and women 392 (same source).

In 2023 the largest groups came from Uganda (1,335) and Kenya (947) ([NBS 2024](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Migration-Statistics-Report-2024.pdf)). The top ten also included India, South Africa, Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Britain, the Philippines, Pakistan and Russia (same source). The NBS says they work mainly in construction, hospitality, education and services in towns ([NBS 2025](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Migration-Statistics-Report-2025.pdf)).

## Who settled on the Somali coast before colonial rule?

Arab and Persian merchants settled in the Banadir ports in the Middle Ages. Britannica describes Mogadishu receiving migrants from the Persian Gulf and southern Arabia, the best known called Shirazi ([Britannica, "Shirazi"](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shirazi)). The historian Neville Chittick argued that the "Shirazi" of the Swahili coast came south from the Banadir coast ([Chittick, Journal of African History](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/shirazi-colonization-of-east-africa/8D17F7DB2C4A6291F0D34501949706BF)).

Around 1518, Duarte Barbosa recorded ships from Cambay in India and from Aden trading at Mogadishu and Berbera ([*The Book of Duarte Barbosa*, 1918](https://archive.org/details/bookofduartebarb0001mans)). The towns themselves are on [Somali coast towns, 1331 to 1586](/en/history/somali-coast-towns-1331-1586/).

In 1848 a British naval officer described the Berbera fair drawing boats from Yemen, Muscat, Bahrain and Basra. He also named Banian traders from Porbandar, Mandvi and Bombay ([Cruttenden, quoted in Burton, *First Footsteps in East Africa*, 1856](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6886/pg6886.html)).

## What about Yemeni and Indian communities?

India's High Commission records about 200 Indian families who once lived in Somalia, mostly in textile dyeing in Mogadishu and [Merca](/en/regions/lower-shabelle/) ([High Commission of India, Nairobi, Oct 2025](https://hcinairobi.gov.in/eoinrb_pages/MzI4)). An earlier Indian brief says Italians recruited Indians for plantations around [Qoryooley](/en/regions/qoryooley/) in the 1940s and 1950s ([Assistant High Commission of India, Mombasa, Aug 2021](https://www.ahcimombasa.gov.in/page/overview-somalia/)). Most left after 1991, many for Mombasa (same source).

The 1931 Italian census counted 30,275 people in one group: "Arabs, Indians, Bajuni, [Bravanese](/en/society/swahili-in-somalia/), [Ashraf](/en/society/asharaaf/)" and the Reer [Hamar](/en/regions/mogadishu/) of Mogadishu ([ISTAT, 1931 census of the colonies](https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Censimenti%20popolazione/censpop1931/Le_popolazioni_delle_Colonie_e_dei_Possedimenti+OCRottimizz.pdf)). The census recorded 346 people of Indian religions (same source).

## How many Italians lived in Somalia?

Italy's 1931 census counted 1,668 Italians and other foreigners in Italian Somalia, 1,631 of them Italian citizens ([ISTAT, 1931](https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Censimenti%20popolazione/censpop1931/Le_popolazioni_delle_Colonie_e_dei_Possedimenti+OCRottimizz.pdf)). Mogadishu held 787 of them, in a colony of 1,021,572 people (same source). There were 317 Italian men for every 100 Italian women (same source).

Italy's census of 4 November 1953, during the UN trusteeship, counted 5,286 Italian and foreign residents ([ISTAT, 1953 census of the Italian and foreign population of Somalia](https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Censimenti%20popolazione/censpop1951/SBL0488246CenspopitalstranSomalia4Nov1953.pdf)). It left out Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis, Eritreans and Ethiopians, and counted 123 non-Italian foreigners (same source). Mogadishu had 3,808 of the residents (same source).

That census named farming settlements of Europeans at Vittorio d'Africa, Genale, Goluin, Dolo and Ionte ([ISTAT, 1953](https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Censimenti%20popolazione/censpop1951/SBL0488246CenspopitalstranSomalia4Nov1953.pdf)). The colonial period is covered on [Fascist rule and the war, 1923 to 1941](/en/history/fascist-rule-and-the-war-1923-1941/) and [UN trusteeship, 1950 to 1960](/en/history/un-trusteeship-1950-1960/).

## Related pages

- [When Somalia hosted refugees: the camps of 1978 to 1990](/en/diaspora/refugees-in-somalia-1978-1990/)
- [Migration routes](/en/diaspora/migration-routes/)
- [Yemen](/en/diaspora/yemen/)
- [Ethiopia](/en/diaspora/ethiopia/)
- [Deportations and returns](/en/diaspora/deportations-and-returns/)
- [Somalis in India and Pakistan](/en/diaspora/somalis-in-south-asia/)

## Sources

1. UNHCR. "Refugee Data Finder: population in Somalia by country of origin, 1990-2025." API. [api.unhcr.org](https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=200&yearFrom=1990&yearTo=2025&coa=SOM&coo_all=true). Checked 2026-11-12.
2. Somalia National Bureau of Statistics. "Migration Statistics Report," 2nd edition. 2025. [nbs.gov.so](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Migration-Statistics-Report-2025.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
3. Somalia National Bureau of Statistics. "Migration Statistics Report," 1st edition. 2024. [nbs.gov.so](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Migration-Statistics-Report-2024.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
4. UN DESA Population Division. "International Migrant Stock 2024." 2024. [un.org](https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/undesa_pd_2024_ims_stock_by_sex_destination_and_origin.xlsx). Checked 2026-11-12.
5. UNHCR. "Somalia Task Force on Yemen Situation, Weekly Inter-agency Update #50, 8-31 December 2015." [data.unhcr.org](https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/32190). Checked 2026-11-12.
6. Mixed Migration Centre and UNHCR. "Somalia: refugee and migrant journeys to Yemen and the Gulf." 2026. [mixedmigration.org](https://mixedmigration.org/resources/somalia-refugees-migrants-route-yemen-gulf/). Checked 2026-11-12.
7. Mixed Migration Centre. "Mixed Movements in Somalia," 4Mi infographic. September 2024. [mixedmigration.org](https://mixedmigration.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/347_Mixed-Movements-in-Somalia.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
8. IOM DTM. "Migration Along the Eastern Route (September 2024)." 31 October 2024. [dtm.iom.int](https://dtm.iom.int/es/node/45381). Checked 2026-11-12.
9. IOM. "Journey from Africa to Yemen remains world's busiest maritime migration route." 14 February 2020. [iom.int](https://www.iom.int/news/journey-africa-yemen-remains-worlds-busiest-maritime-migration-route). Checked 2026-11-12.
10. IOM DTM Yemen. "Flow Monitoring Annual Report 2025." [reliefweb.int](https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/ioms-dtm-yemen-flow-monitoring-annual-report-2025). Checked 2026-11-12.
11. The National. "Africa-Yemen migration crisis requires new approach, IOM warns." 11 August 2025. [thenationalnews.com](https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2025/08/11/africa-yemen-migration-crisis-requires-new-approach-iom-warns). Checked 2026-11-12.
12. Africanews. "UN migration agency says 2025 was deadliest year on Red Sea migrant route." 25 March 2026. [africanews.com](https://www.africanews.com/2026/03/25/un-migration-agency-says-2025-was-deadliest-year-on-red-sea-migrant-route/). Checked 2026-11-12.
13. Nisar Majid and Khalif Abdirahman. "Mobility, Trust and Exchange: Somalia and Yemen's Cross-Border Economy." Rift Valley Institute. 2019. [riftvalley.net](https://riftvalley.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Mobility-Trust-and-Exchange-by-Nisar-Majid-and-Khalif-Abdirahman-RVI-X-Border-Project-2019.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
14. ISTAT. "Le popolazioni delle Colonie e dei Possedimenti italiani secondo il censimento del 1931." 1934. [ebiblio.istat.it](https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Censimenti%20popolazione/censpop1931/Le_popolazioni_delle_Colonie_e_dei_Possedimenti+OCRottimizz.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
15. ISTAT. "Censimento della popolazione italiana e straniera della Somalia, 4 novembre 1953." 1958. [ebiblio.istat.it](https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Censimenti%20popolazione/censpop1951/SBL0488246CenspopitalstranSomalia4Nov1953.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
16. Duarte Barbosa. *The Book of Duarte Barbosa*, vol. 1, trans. M. L. Dames. Hakluyt Society, 1918. [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/bookofduartebarb0001mans). Checked 2026-11-12.
17. Richard F. Burton. *[First Footsteps in East Africa](/en/history/books-about-somalis-1500-1884/)*. 1856 (quoting C. J. Cruttenden, 1848). [gutenberg.org](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6886/pg6886.html). Checked 2026-11-12.
18. Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Shirazi." [britannica.com](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shirazi). Checked 2026-11-12.
19. Neville Chittick. "The 'Shirazi' colonization of East Africa." *Journal of African History*. [cambridge.org](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/shirazi-colonization-of-east-africa/8D17F7DB2C4A6291F0D34501949706BF). Checked 2026-11-12.
20. High Commission of India, Nairobi. "India-Somalia bilateral relations." October 2025. [hcinairobi.gov.in](https://hcinairobi.gov.in/eoinrb_pages/MzI4). Checked 2026-11-12.
21. Assistant High Commission of India, Mombasa. "India-Somalia Bilateral Relations." August 2021. [ahcimombasa.gov.in](https://www.ahcimombasa.gov.in/page/overview-somalia/). Checked 2026-11-12.

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