Basic Facts & Figures

The welcoming and protection of refugees is not a numbers game. Every refugee’s personal experience is unique.

Nevertheless, because there are a lot of wrong numbers out there it’s good to know some of the right ones.

There are around 15 million refugees in the world

  • This figure does not include the estimated 27.1 million ‘internally displaced people’, those who have left their home but have not crossed an international border (UNHCR, 2009).

There were an estimated 269, 400 refugees in the UK in 2009 – about 0.5% of the population (UNHCR, 2009)

  • 80% of refugees are hosted by developing countries.
  • Refugees only account for a tiny percentage of overall immigration.
  • In 2007, the number of asylum applicants was 28,000, around 2% of total net immigration to the UK
  • The number of applications for asylum, excluding dependants, was 30% lower in 2009 compared with 2008 (Home Office, 2009).

Most refugees were living in Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Germany and Jordan in 2009

  • Countries including Kenya, Chad, China, USA and UK also hosted high refugee populations.
  • Most refugees flee to their neighbouring country, only a small proportion travel to developed countries in Europe and elsewhere (UNHCR, 2009).

Most asylum seekers in the UK came from Zimbabwe, Iran, Eritrea, Pakistan and Iraq in 2009


  • Many other asylum claims in recent years have been from people from Afghanistan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Sri Lanka and Nigeria.
  • These countries have either recently experienced conflict or have well-documented human rights abuses (UNHCR, 2009).

A single adult asylum seeker receives £35.52 a week

  • Asylum seekers cannot claim mainstream benefits.
  • A single unemployed UK citizen of the same age would receive £60.50 on income support, plus other benefits they may be able to receive.
  • Asylum seekers do not qualify for council housing tenancy or housing benefit.
    (Home Office, Asylum Support).
  • Asylum seekers do not have permission to work in the UK.

It costs up to £17,000 to deport a single adult after their asylum claim has been refused (NAO, 2009)

  • In 2009, 19,005 asylum seekers and their dependents were forcibly removed from the UK (BID).
  • These individuals were often fearful of what would happen to them on return to their country of origin (BID).

Asylum seekers are often kept in detention, despite the fact that claiming asylum is not a crime.

  • There are 11 immigration removal centres across the UK (Immigration Removal Centres).
  • Every year around 2,000 children in the UK are detained for the purposes of immigration control. This can often cause detrimental physical and psychological problems (BID).

http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c4b8.html
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/asylum/
http://www.nao.org.uk/publications.aspx
http://www.biduk.org/index.htm
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/organisation/immigrationremovalcentres/