Somali refugees by the numbers, 1975 to 2025

How many refugees from Somalia are there now?

At the end of 2025, UNHCR counted 892,037 refugees and 236,271 asylum seekers whose country of origin is Somalia (UNHCR Refugee Data Finder, API query, origin Somalia, 1975 to 2025). In the same year it counted 3,347,408 people displaced inside Somalia (same source). So more than four million Somalis were living away from home because of conflict, drought or floods.

These are refugee numbers, not the size of the diaspora. A Somali who became a British, Swedish or American citizen is no longer counted as a refugee. That is why the UK, where many thousands of Somali-born people live, shows only 2,697 Somali refugees in 2024 (UNHCR, hosts of refugees from Somalia, 2024).

How has the number changed since 1975?

UNHCR's series starts with a few dozen refugees from Somalia in the 1970s. The big rises follow the wars and droughts of the late 1980s, 1991, 2006 to 2009 and 2011 (UNHCR Refugee Data Finder). Refugees counted at the end of each year:

• 1975: 110
• 1986: 3,142
• 1987: 60,162
• 1988: 351,993 (the year of the war in the north; almost all went to Ethiopia)
• 1990: 470,174
• 1991: 732,596 (the central state collapsed in January 1991)
• 1992: 812,196 (the 1992 famine year; the highest count of the 1990s)
• 1995: 638,695
• 2000: 475,644
• 2005: 395,544 (the lowest point since 1989)
• 2008: 561,145
• 2010: 770,141
• 2011: 1,077,038 (the 2011 famine year)
• 2012: 1,136,709 (the highest count ever recorded)
• 2015: 1,123,144
• 2018: 949,637
• 2020: 812,356
• 2022: 786,794
• 2024: 894,120
• 2025: 892,037

Asylum seekers, people whose claim is not yet decided, are counted separately. Their number rose from 11,971 in 2000 to 56,664 in 2015, then jumped to 179,224 in 2023 and 237,183 in 2024 (same source). Most of the jump is in Kenya, where 144,011 Somalis were asylum seekers in 2024 (UNHCR 2024 hosts).

Which countries host refugees from Somalia?

In 2024 the largest hosts were neighbours. Refugees, then asylum seekers, by country (UNHCR 2024 hosts):

• Kenya: 324,496 refugees and 144,011 asylum seekers
• Ethiopia: 317,973 and 43,961
• Uganda: 49,122 and 1,710
• Yemen: 38,231 and 141
• Germany: 38,179 and 9,220
• South Africa: 22,141 and 5,153
• France: 15,287 and 1,214
• Djibouti: 13,560 and 101
• Austria: 10,930 and 1,853
• Italy: 7,608 and 743
• Sweden: 7,281 and 172
• Egypt: 3,986 and 3,909
• Zambia: 4,545 and 485
• Switzerland: 4,167 and 420
• Netherlands: 3,968 and 2,416
• United States: 1,355 and 3,945

The map of hosts has moved over time. In 1988, Ethiopia held 350,067 of the 351,993 refugees from Somalia (UNHCR, 1988 hosts). In 1992, Ethiopia held 406,147, Kenya 285,619, Yemen 56,204 and Djibouti 20,000 (UNHCR, 1992 hosts). In 2011, Kenya held 517,666, Yemen 204,685 and Ethiopia 185,466, with the UK at 19,668, Sweden at 17,602 and the Netherlands at 15,715 (UNHCR, 2011 hosts).

How many people born in Somalia live abroad?

The UN's International Migrant Stock counts everyone living outside the country they were born in, refugee or not. Its 2024 edition is the global reference (UN DESA, International Migrant Stock 2024). Somalia's National Strategy on Migration (May 2024) says the latest migrant stock data show "more than two million Somalis who left the country". It says over half went to three countries: Kenya (425,284), Ethiopia (411,152) and Yemen (280,940) (Federal Republic of Somalia, National Strategy for Migration, May 2024, via UN ESCWA).

This count leaves out children born abroad to Somali parents. In Sweden alone, Statistics Sweden counts about 31,761 people born in Sweden with both parents from Somalia (see our Sweden page).

How many people have come home?

Return is far smaller than departure in every year on record.

• Refugees returning (UNHCR count): the largest year was 1993, with 66,608 returns. Between 2000 and 2002 there were 32,000 to 51,000 a year. In 2024 the count was 1,959 (UNHCR Refugee Data Finder).
• Refugee returnees recorded by Somalia's own refugee agency (NCRI): 351 in 2020, 145 in 2021, 795 in 2022 and 1,225 in 2023. Most came from Yemen (1,858 over four years), then Kenya (427), Libya (188) and India (31) (Somalia National Bureau of Statistics, Migration Statistics Report, first edition 2024).
• Migrant returnees (people coming back from work or travel abroad, voluntarily or not): 1,287 in 2020, 1,127 in 2021, 3,616 in 2022 and 1,901 in 2023. The largest numbers came from Saudi Arabia (3,945 over four years) and Yemen (2,591), then Libya (410), Ethiopia (381), Sudan (149) and Germany (85) (same NBS report, citing the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Migration, Returns and Children's Rights).
• Where migrant returnees settled, 2020 to 2023: Banadir 2,323, Somaliland 3,040, Puntland 1,631, Galmudug 454, South West State 211, Jubaland 225 and Hirshabelle 47 (same report, Table 4.5).
• Internally displaced people going home: UNHCR counted 288,966 returned IDPs in 2020, 544,249 in 2021, 607,256 in 2022 and 290,750 in 2024 (UNHCR Refugee Data Finder).

Who lives in Somalia as a refugee?

Somalia also hosts refugees. In 2025 UNHCR counted 20,967 refugees and 25,702 asylum seekers inside Somalia (UNHCR, hosted in Somalia, 2025). Ethiopians are the largest group: 4,177 refugees in 2023, by the NBS count (NBS Migration Statistics Report 2024).

How to read these numbers

• UNHCR revises past years when governments send new data, so a figure may change slightly from one download to the next. The numbers on this page were downloaded on 12 November 2026.
• Internal displacement figures jump when the method changes. UNHCR's count went from 2,967,500 in 2022 to 3,860,099 in 2023, partly because of new drought and flood displacement and partly because of new surveys.
• The diaspora is bigger than the refugee count. Citizens, workers, students and children born abroad are not refugees. For the size of each community, see the country pages below.

Why it matters (Calankii)

Behind each number is a family that kept going. Since 1895, Somalis have carried one banner, and today more than one in five Somalis lives away from home. Knowing who left, where they went and who came back is the first step to a future where young Somalis everywhere can build a living together. Read the call.

Related pages

• Why did Somalis leave, and when?
• Which routes did Somalis take to leave?
• Where are the Somali refugee camps?
• Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen

Sources

1. UNHCR. Refugee Data Finder, population API, origin Somalia, 1975 to 2025. api.unhcr.org. Downloaded 12 November 2026.
2. UNHCR. Refugee Data Finder, hosts of people from Somalia, 1988, 1992, 2011 and 2024. 1988 · 1992 · 2011 · 2024. Downloaded 12 November 2026.
3. UNHCR. Refugee Data Finder, people hosted in Somalia, 2025. api.unhcr.org. Downloaded 12 November 2026.
4. Somalia National Bureau of Statistics. Migration Statistics Report, first edition, November 2024. nbs.gov.so. Checked 12 November 2026.
5. Federal Republic of Somalia. National Strategy for Migration, May 2024 (hosted by UN ESCWA). unescwa.org. Checked 12 November 2026.
6. UN DESA Population Division. International Migrant Stock 2024. un.org. Checked 12 November 2026.