# Yemen (Somali refugees)

> About 38,000 Somali refugees live in Yemen, around 63% of its 61,000 registered refugees, mainly in Kharaz camp, Aden and Taiz.

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

## Who lives there

Yemen hosts over 62,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from Somalia and Ethiopia, and 2,350 were newly registered from January to October 2025. The main places are Kharaz camp in Lahj, Aden (Basateen and Khor Maksar) and Taiz ([UNHCR, Oct 2025](https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/2025-12/Yemen%20Operational%20Update%20-%20October%202025.pdf)).

Somalis are about 63% of the 61,000 registered refugees. Thousands live in makeshift homes in Aden's "Little Mogadishu". About 17,000 Africans arrived in October 2025 alone, mostly through Djibouti and Somalia ([AFP via Khaleej Times, Dec 2025](https://www.khaleejtimes.com/world/mena/no-work-no-money-somali-migrants-in-yemen-long-to-return-home-2)). Yemen itself has 19.5 million people in need and 4.8 million displaced.

## Work and money

Men take odd jobs on Aden's roads, such as washing cars for a few dollars a day, and some search rubbish for food. Work is scarce for Yemenis too ([Khaleej Times](https://www.khaleejtimes.com/world/mena/no-work-no-money-somali-migrants-in-yemen-long-to-return-home-2)). UNHCR gave cash to 9,049 refugees in 2025, and trained women in Aden and Taiz in sewing and leatherwork.

## Who serves the community

UNHCR runs help desks and mobile visits in Basateen and Khor Maksar. Homes in Kharaz camp now run on solar power. UNHCR's 2025 appeal for Yemen, $305 million, was only 17% funded at the end of October ([UNHCR](https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/2025-12/Yemen%20Operational%20Update%20-%20October%202025.pdf)).

## What the community faces now

- **Funding cuts:** at 17% funding, cash, shelter and documents are all cut.
- **Going home:** 365 Somalis returned through UNHCR's return programme from January to October 2025, by boat to Berbera and by air to Mogadishu, and 1,591 were counselled ([UNHCR](https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/2025-12/Yemen%20Operational%20Update%20-%20October%202025.pdf)).
- **Why people return:** 56% of returnees said they had no income in Yemen ([Khaleej Times](https://www.khaleejtimes.com/world/mena/no-work-no-money-somali-migrants-in-yemen-long-to-return-home-2)).
- **Floods** hit in August and September 2025.

## Sources differ

UNHCR counts 365 assisted returns to October 2025; AFP reports more than 500 returns in 2025, with about 450 more planned on year-end flights.

## Top needs

1. A safe, documented return and a landing at home.
2. Identity and civil records that people keep.
3. Income on return.
4. Facts about conditions at home before deciding.
5. Remembrance of those lost at sea.

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